


Split-Second Decisions

by beepotter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-07-27 23:26:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 34,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16229504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beepotter/pseuds/beepotter
Summary: When Hermione is being tortured at Malfoy Manor, Draco makes a decision that will permanently change all of their lives.Dramione. In progress.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or this world. All credit goes to the fabulous JK Rowling.

Flashes of memory were all he got, all that pulled him away from the scene in front of him. He heard her first-year voice on the train, before she’d gone and met the people who would become her lifelong friends, saying, “I’m Hermione, Hermione Granger. Aren’t you eager for classes to start?” She had extended her hand to him, and he had responded with, “I’ve never heard of any Grangers.”

He saw chocolate brown eyes widen when he’d called her a mudblood for the first time in second year, clouded with confusion. He knew she didn’t know what the word meant, but she was smart enough to infer from his tone.

He saw the rage coloring her cheeks just before she had hit him in the face third year. No one – male or female – had ever stood up to him that way, and when she turned her back and left him clutching his cheek, his heart had raced.

He saw her coming out of that lake in fourth year, in the arms of Viktor Krum. Her hair was wet and stuck to her face in spots. Her cheeks were pink, and she was shivering. Couldn’t someone get her a bloody blanket? She was going to freeze…

He saw her betrayed face coming out of the Room of Requirement in fifth year, as he did Umbridge’s bidding. How could she manage to look so betrayed when they weren’t even friends? In fact, they were the furthest thing from friends. When he grabbed her arm to lead her to Umbridge, though, he felt the strangest fleeting urge to slide his hand down from her bicep to her own hand, to guide her gently instead of forcibly. Of course he didn’t listen to the urge.

And then, the last time he’d seen her, before today. Sixth year, fleeing the school with Snape. They were all duelling. He didn’t see her anywhere – he didn’t even realize he’d been scanning the area for her – until they were in the entrance hall. She came running up the hallway from the dungeons, breathless, and looked at he and Snape. She trusted Snape, he realized in that moment, because she lowered her wand, eyes fixed on his own gray ones, and nodded, as though giving them permission to go. She didn’t know what they’d left upstairs, didn’t know that Dumbledore was dead, didn’t realize that there were Death Eaters up there waiting for her. He couldn’t explain it to himself, but he had the strangest urge to tell her to run with them. She never would have though.

That’s what had gotten her here. She wouldn’t look out for herself at the expense of others. She was always so bloody noble.

A thin sheen of sweat now covered Draco’s face as he watched her writhing on the ground as his aunt tortured her. He winced every time she screamed. Potter and Weasley were in the cellar, and Granger was up here, very much alone.

Except, of course, for Draco.

He didn’t know what made him do it. It certainly wasn’t a conscious decision. It was as though his body was leading him, acting of its own accord. Wordlessly, he stalked toward Bellatrix, who was so focused on her prey that she didn’t even notice. It all happened in the span of a few seconds, before his father could even get out the words, “Draco, what are you doing?”

In those few seconds, Draco had muttered the spell, and green light had shot out of his wand, causing his aunt to crumple on top of Granger, who whimpered in confusion and pain. Draco reached down, grabbed Granger’s arm, and turned around to the faces of his shocked parents.

“Sorry, Mother,” he said, before turning on the spot and apparating he and Granger away. Malfoys, of course, were the only ones who could apparate in and out of Malfoy Manor, owing to the blood wards.

When his feet hit the ground in the Forest of Dean, the reality of what he had done washed over him. Granger was crumpled at his feet, much as she had been at the Manor, and Draco began hyperventilating, his breathing coming in ragged pants. He sat down on the ground next to Granger, who was sobbing, and put his face in his hands. Tears fell unbidden from his eyes.

He had left his parents. He had betrayed the Dark Lord.

He was dead.

“Malfoy?” Granger whimpered hoarsely.

He removed his hands from his face and looked over at her. She was pale, deathly pale, and trembling. Her hand was covering her left forearm, and blood was running beneath it. Deciding he needed to see how bad the damage was there, he reached for her hand to move it away from her wound. When he saw what the wound was – what Bellatrix had decided to carve into his schoolmate’s flesh – his eyes glassed over with tears once again.

He’d called her that word, hadn’t he? Time and time again. But seeing it carved into her soft skin…it was too much. He closed his eyes, his hand still resting against her hand that he had removed from her own forearm.

What could he do for her? How could he take care of someone freshly tortured?

He thought bitterly, _Potter would know what to do._

His eyes snapped open. Of course. He needed Potter, and, he supposed by extension, Weasley.

“Bibsey?” he asked, seemingly into the abyss. Granger must have passed out because she didn’t even ask him what he was doing.

A loud crack. A house elf in a neat white toga appeared.

“Master called?” Bibsey asked.

Draco tried hard to keep his voice even, to keep his breathing calm. At least he had a plan now, that was something. He didn’t know where this plan would lead him, but it had to be better than crying on the floor of a forest he’d traveled to with his father as a child.

“Bibsey, please go into the cellar at Malfoy Manor and apparate Harry Potter and his friend, Weasley, here.” He paused. “Bring the others too. The Wandmaker and the Lovegood girl, and the goblin and Dean Thomas.” If he was going to be a traitor, Draco reckoned, he might as well do it correctly.

Bibsey disapparated and was back within a minute with the first two of the bunch: Ollivander and Luna Lovegood. Before Lovegood could ask some off-kilter question about where they were, Bibsey was gone and back with the goblin and Dean Thomas. Draco had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Of course the hero, Potter, had waited to be the last one taken to safety. Finally, after one more trip, Bibsey arrived with Potter and Weasley.

Weasley immediately launched himself at Granger, taking her hand and saying her name over and over.

“I think she passed out,” Draco said quietly.

“It may be better that way,” Lovegood supplied. “Her body might be avoiding the pain.”

Potter was standing back a bit, glancing between Draco and Granger, mistrust etched on his features. Finally he said, “What are we doing here, Malfoy?”

Draco’s stomach dropped. He knew he was going to have to explain himself, but he wasn’t sure how he could. He didn’t even realize what he had been doing until it was already done.

“I camped here with my father as a child,” he said. Potter’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, don’t look so surprised. We don’t always stay in fancy manors. It was one of our fishing trips, actually. This is the Forest of Dean.”

“Forest of Dean?” Weasley asked stupidly.

“That’s what I said,” Draco responded coldly.

“Hermione brought us here a few months ago,” Potter said, cutting over Weasley’s voice. “She had also been here with her parents. Pretty big coincidence, don’t you think?”

Draco shrugged. “I guess.”

“Malfoy, you know damn well I didn’t mean what are we doing _here_ in the woods. I meant what the hell happened back there? Why did you get us all out? What the hell is going on?” Potter’s cheeks were red with anger.

“I…” Draco began. He didn’t know what to say. He glanced around at everyone. They all had wands in their hands, though not raised. They didn’t trust him, but they weren’t hexing him either. He decided he would do his best to tell the truth. “I was standing there watching my aunt torturing her, listening to her screaming her head off. You heard her. I couldn’t take it. I don’t know what happened, okay? I didn’t plan it. Before I knew what I was doing, I had killed my aunt and apparated Granger out of there.”

“No one could apparate,” Potter said, voice full of suspicion.

“The blood wards only allow Malfoys to apparate,” Draco said. “And…house elves.” He nodded at Bibsey, who was watching the proceedings with wide eyes. “This is Bibsey. She is my personal house elf, bound to me by blood, so before you even ask, she answers only to me, not to my parents, especially now that I’m of age.”

“Okay…” Potter said, still holding his wand. “That explains _how_ you did this, but it sure as hell doesn’t explain _why_ you did it.”

Draco looked directly at him then, meeting his green eyes with his own gray ones. He had no idea how he was keeping his voice level when all he wanted to do was cry out. “I don’t know why I did it,” he said. He glaced over at Granger, who was stirring. Weasley reached out and grabbed her hand, rubbing soothing circles into her skin, and Draco felt a hot swoop in his stomach. Without knowing why, he realized he wanted to be the one to soothe her.

_It must just be because you are the one that rescued her,_ he reasoned with himself. Of course. Clearly he just wanted to see his job out.

Potter was watching him watch her. Draco could feel his eyes on him. He glanced back at Potter, who had a peculiar expression on his face, somewhere between confusion and understanding. He kept glancing back at Granger, who had started to cry again.

“I’m going back to get our tent,” Potter said after a moment. He apparated away and was back within a few minutes. With a few waves of his wand, he erected a magical tent. This must be where they’d been living on the run the last few months.

Potter glanced at Draco but seemed to decide there were more pressing matters as he levitated Granger into the tent and lowered her gently onto the bottom bunk. He gingerly covered her with a blanket and tucked her in, whispering, “You need to rest, Hermione. It’s the only thing that will help.”

Draco watched all of this from the mouth of the tent, not feeling like he was allowed to enter. He watched as Potter began magically extending the tent, turning it from what had essentially been a studio flat into a three-bedroom house. Begrudginly, Draco had to admit to himself that he was impressed by the magic.

“Right, Luna, you can share this bunk with Hermione,” he said, gesturing unnecessarily to the bed Granger was lying in.

“Oooh, I’ve always loved a top bunk,” Lovegood said, as she climbed the little ladder to the top and plopped herself down. Draco rolled his eyes. How could she seem cheery at a time like this?

“Mr. Ollivander, you can have this room,” Potter said, pointing to one of the small bedrooms. The white-haired man nodded and headed off, closing the door behind him. “And Griphook, you can have this one.” The goblin grunted and went to his room. Like his neighbor, he also closed the door.

“And Ron and Dean, the three of us can share this room,” Potter said, pointing to a large room at the end of the tent. Without being invited in, Draco walked over to look at the room, his curiosity about the magic getting the better of him. Weasley, Thomas, and Potter were already inside. There were three twin-sized beds in there. The blankets were red and gold, and there were Gryffindor banners on the walls around the beds. It looked like a little dormitory.

Thomas cleared his throat. Draco hadn’t realized that he had been looking at him, but now Potter and Weasley were too. “Er, what about Malfoy?” Thomas asked.

Potter was looking hard at Draco now. Not wanting to appear fearful, Draco lifted his chin up, glancing around at all of them in turn.

“I’m sure Malfoy doesn’t plan on staying with us,” Weasley said, looking at Potter for backup.

“Where else would he go?” Thomas asked. Potter shifted uncomfortably, staring at his feet.

“Harry, think about it,” Weasley said, striding across to Potter and grabbing his arm. “He could just be spying for the Death Eaters. He could go and report on us immediately, tell them where we are.” Weasley released Potter’s arm and listened, waiting for the group’s clear leader to come to a decision

Potter looked up from his feet, studying Draco again. Draco’s stomach turned over, wondering where in the hell he would go if Potter told him he had to leave.

“He killed his aunt, Ron,” Potter said finally, with a sigh. “One of V—er,” he paused, clearly remembering the Taboo that had gotten them into this mess in the first place. “One of You-Know-Who’s top servants. I don’t think there is really any coming back from that.”

Draco nearly sighed with relief, but he held it in. He still hadn’t been invited to stay.

“Okay, but that doesn’t mean he’s on our side, and it doesn’t make him our problem,” Weasley argued.

“No, not necessarily,” Potter agreed. Draco furrowed his brow. “Malfoy, do you want to stay?” Potter asked him finally.

Draco paused and then said, “Thomas is right. I’m not sure where else I would go,” Draco answered honestly. “The Dark Lord is going to hunt me to the ends of the earth once he hears what I have done.”

“He’s already heard,” Potter said, almost casually.

Draco’s brow came together once more. “How do you know that?”

Potter hesitated, clearly wondering if he should share the information, but he apparently decided Draco was stuck enough that he could. “I get flashes of his mind sometimes, especially when he is particularly angry.”

Draco winced. The Dark Lord was very angry then. Of course he would be. Draco was willing to bet Bellatrix had been his most loyal follower, and Draco had not only killed her but also deserted him and helped his arch nemesis escape.

“Malfoy stays,” Potter said suddenly. “There is no way he will survive otherwise.”

Weasley looked like he was going to put up a fight, and Potter continued, “Leave it, Ron. He saved Hermione. That’s something, isn’t it?”

Weasley’s face was red as he looked at Draco then. After what appeared to be some sort of internal struggle, Weasley gruffly said, “Thank you, for Hermione.”

Potter waved his wand, and wordlessly, a fourth bed appeared, but this one had green and silver blankets, and the hangings on the wall around it were for Slytherin. Potter sat down on the bed closest to Draco’s apparently deciding that Weasley couldn’t be trusted in such close proximity to Draco.

Draco looked at Potter, raising an eyebrow at the décor. Potter shrugged. “Everyone deserves to feel at home. Even a Slytherin.”

 


	2. Chapter Two

Draco spent a lot of his time outside, sitting by the little jar of flames he conjured to keep himself warm. He felt awkward in the tent with the others. They were all friendly with one another and certainly not with him, for one. Secondly, he couldn't stand to see Granger, still tossing and turning fitfully even three days later.

It was after dark on the third night they'd been there. Everyone else had gone to bed, but Draco couldn't sleep. He'd climbed carefully out of bed and walked into the tent's living room, where the original bunk still was. He knew Potter planned on making a separate bedroom for the girls once Granger was strong enough to move, but that was out of the question for now, so their bunk was right in the middle of the main area of the tent. Draco paused. He could hear Lovegood's breathing and noted that she was sleeping upside down in the bed, with her head where her feet should be. He rolled his eyes.

Glancing up to make sure Lovegood was still asleep, he took a soundless step forward, closer to Granger on the bottom bunk. The moonlight was coming in through the mouth of the tent, and a sliver of her face was illuminated. She still looked so pale, and she was twitching in her sleep. Draco exhaled slowly, afraid of waking either of the girls up, and had to fight his longing to sit on the edge of Granger's bed and take her hand. He didn't know why he wanted to do that. He just wanted her to know she wasn't alone, that she had people waiting for her to wake up. He guessed he was among those people now. 

With one last long glance back at her, he walked outside into the chilly air. It was late March, but the night air hadn't begun to warm for spring yet, and there was even a thin layer of frost on the forest floor that crunched as Draco walked outside. Draco could see his breath as he settled down near the tent's entrance and conjured his familiar jar of blue flames. He remembered seeing Granger conjure this same jar of flames in their first year, and his eleven-year-old self had researched tirelessly until he found out how to mimic them. He nearly smiled at the memory.

It was so quiet outside. He thought of his parents, hoping against hope they were still alive. He hoped they had said whatever they needed to to the Dark Lord to save themselves, even if that meant disowning Draco. He knew they wouldn't really want to disown him, but if it meant staying alive, he was fine with it. His impulse shouldn't cost them their lives.

He didn't know how long he sat there before a rustling noise caught his attention. He stood up, wand pointed around wildly, before he realized the sound was coming from inside the tent, behind him. He muttered, "Lumos," to get a better look at who was coming outside.

It was Granger. She was in a nightdress, which he supposed Lovegood had put on her at some point, and her hair was wild from days of bed rest. As far as Draco knew, this was the first time she had been out of bed since they arrived.

"Malfoy?" she asked. Her voice was weak, but not quite as hoarse as it had been when they'd first landed on the forest floor.

"Yeah, it's me," he said, lowering his wand so that the light wasn't directly in her face.

She looked around and then gathered her arms around herself. Draco, without even thinking, removed his own cloak and offered it to her. Damn his pureblood upbringing. Etiquette was second nature to him.

"Er, thanks," she muttered, wrapping the cloak around her. Draco suppressed a shiver as a small gust of wind hit him. "What...I mean, what are we doing here?" she asked. "What are  _you_ doing here?"

Draco sighed. He had been afraid he would have to explain the whole thing to her again once she woke up. "You don't remember anything?" he asked. He sat back down where had been next to his jar of flames, needing the warmth now more than ever since his cloak was gone.

She sat down next to him, careful to leave plenty of space in between them. "The last thing I remember is being t-tortured by that...that awful woman." She paused. "Your aunt."

He could hear her voice threatening to break at the memory, and he felt a spasm of pain in his own stomach. "You don't remember what I did?" he asked, trying to prompt her memory to work properly.

She shook her head, and he sighed.

"I killed her. My aunt, I mean." He gave that a few moments to sink in.

"You killed Bellatrix?" Granger asked, her voice full of incredulity despite its weak volume. "Why...why would you do that? She was on  _your_ side. She was the Dark Lord's most devoted..."

He cut her off. "Yeah, I realize that, funnily enough, Granger. I don't know why I did it."

Granger sat in silence for a few long moments. Draco looked down at his hands. He didn't know why he felt so on edge. He didn't want to explain this to her because, frankly, there was no explanation. He had no idea what had made him suddenly desert his parents and turn his back on the Dark Lord, except that he just couldn't stand Granger's screaming.

Before he knew what he was saying, he said, "I couldn't let her do that to you anymore."

She turned her head to him sharply, as though she couldn't believe what had just come out of his mouth. In fact, he was willing to bet that was exactly the case. He had never said a kind word to her, much less admitted that he felt the need to save her life. 

"I...I thought you must have just done it because you wanted out and you saw an opportunity," she admitted.

"That does sound more like me," he said. "Let's go with that story instead."

He took the chance at glancing over at her and saw her eyes were wide, but not fearful or hurt, as they'd been so many times in the past. No, they were wide, almost as though she was concerned for him, or something else. He couldn't quite place it. 

"Stop looking at me like that," he said, his tone icier than he meant it to be. 

"Sorry," she said quietly. She looked down at her hands. "I'm just not really sure what to say."

He almost laughed. "Sometimes you don't have to say anything," he said. "I'm not expecting a thank you note or anything. I didn't even realize what I was doing until it was done. I don't need you to glorify what I did or act like I'm some kind of hero. I'm not. I'm a Death Eater."

She considered him. "You may have a Mark," she said finally, "but you are no Death Eater. You wouldn't be here if you were."

With that, she stood up and walked back inside the tent. After a few seconds, she reached her arm back out and dropped his cloak. He stared at it for a few seconds before picking it up. He didn't bother putting it on as he walked back inside the tent and across to the boys' room without glancing over at Granger. He didn't think he could bear it.

* * *

 

The next morning, the tent was atwitter with happiness that Granger had woken up. Once again, Draco felt like an intruder and tried to stay out of the general merriment. He gathered something interesting about the group's dynamic that morning, now that Granger was awake, though. While Potter was clearly the group's leader and who everyone deferred to for major decisions and plans, Granger was the life and soul of the group. While she had been asleep for three days, no plans had been made. No progress had been made. They had just sat and waited for her to awaken. Now that she was awake, it was as though the entire group was energized again and ready for whatever came next.

Draco, once again sitting at the mouth of the tent and enjoying the sunshine, didn't realize he was listening to their conversation until he heard Granger say, "I think the first thing we need to figure out is what to do about Malfoy's parents."

Without thinking, he turned around and said, "What do you mean, what to do about my parents?"

"Well, they aren't safe," she said, glancing over at him. "Aren't you worried about them?"

He was back inside the tent before he knew what he was doing. He approached the couch Granger was sitting on, towering over her, and said, "You think I'm not worried about them? I don't even know if they are alive. None of you care about my parents at all, so don't pretend to somehow be more worried about them than I am."

They were all staring at him. It was the most he'd spoken to any of them in the four days they'd been there. After a beat of silence, Potter said, "Malfoy, I think Hermione is trying to help, so maybe back off a little."

Draco shook his head incredulously at the lot of them. "There is nothing you can do for my parents," he said, turning his back and making toward the entrance of the tent again.

"No," Granger said. "But I'm willing to bet the Order might be able to."

Draco froze and turned slowly back around. "The Order of the Phoenix?" he asked. "You think the Order of the Phoenix is going to help save Lucius Malfoy, Death Eater extraordinaire, and his wife? You think the Order is going to help someone who has worked against them from the word go?"

Weasley shrugged. "Yeah, probably. Sounds like the Order." 

"There's only one way to find out," Granger said. She stood up and took out her wand, waving it wordlessly. An otter Patronus appeared, but it wasn't charging off a Dementor. It was staring at Granger almost expectantly, as if waiting for instructions. Obligingly, she said, "Take this message to Kingsley Shacklebolt, Head of the Order of the Phoenix." She paused. "Kingsley, you may have already heard by now, but Harry, Ron, and I very narrowly escaped Malfoy Manor with the help of Draco Malfoy. He also rescued several other hostages. We are on the run again. I won't say where now in case this is intercepted. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy are still in Malfoy Manor, and we fear for their safety. It has been four days. We need assistance if there is any hope of us continuing the mission Dumbledore left Harry. If you can help, please meet us Friday where Padfoot lived off of rats. Lupin will know where that is."

When she finished, she waved her wand again, and the Patronus glided off to the mouth of the tent and disappeared, clearly off to find the recipient of the message. Draco stared after it in disbelief. 

"I'd seen people work their Patronuses that way before, but I'd never been able to work it out myself." He was still looking at the mouth of the tent, where the Patronus had disappeared, as though he might be able to will it to come back and explain how the spell worked.

"I can show you sometime," Granger said casually, plopping back down on the couch next to Weasley. Draco noticed that Weasley glanced worriedly over at her words, but he quickly tried to hide that he had done so, choosing instead to pick up a book from an end table.  _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_ , Draco realized. Odd reading choice. Then again, maybe Weasley's reading level was only high enough to read children's stories. He almost laughed at his own joke, but he held it in.

"Sure," he said to Granger. "Yeah, that would be good."


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I so appreciate the response this new fic is getting. I am enjoying writing it and love feedback, so please comment! 
> 
> B

"You're getting loads better at it," Granger said, her tone genuinely encouraging. Draco wondered to himself how she always managed to sound like she wanted to help him when he knew she must still despise him from years and years of torment at his hands.

"Yeah, but sending it to deliver a message just inside the tent is one thing," Draco said, tilting his head to the entrance of the tent, which was only a few feet away. "You got yours to go all the way to London."

Granger nodded. "It's definitely harder with a longer distance, but you just have to keep focusing on it until you feel the message has been delivered. You'll get used to it."

"Well, thanks for helping me, Granger. It's impressive magic."

She looked over at him with an odd expression on her face, and Draco realized she didn't know what to make of him complimenting her. He cleared his throat. "If only Potter was so accommodating, I might have him show me how he keeps extending this bloody tent..." Potter had indeed added a separate wing for the girls the day before, now that Granger was feeling better, so that they had their own bedroom and bathroom.

Granger smirked. "I taught him that too," she said, her voice smug. 

Draco rolled his eyes. "Is there any spell you can't figure out?"

"No, not really," she said, turning her back on him and walking back toward the tent. He watched her go with a strange pull of anxiety in his stomach.

* * *

 

As soon as Hermione entered through the mouth of the tent, Ron grabbed her arm and pulled her aside, taking her into the boys' room, which was currently empty, as the rest of the boys were out foraging for food for Bibsey to prepare for them. Having a house elf around was useful, Hermione had to admit, but they still had to be able to provide food for her to cook. Anyway, it's not like sending her home was really an option.

"Ron, what are you doing?" Hermione asked, confused, as Ron shut the door behind them.

"I could ask the same of you," Ron said, his voice dark.

"What are you talking about?"

He rolled his eyes. "Why are you being friendly to Malfoy?"

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "First of all, I don't know that teaching him how to work a spell really counts as being 'friendly,'" she said. "Second of all, he did save my life--all of our lives really--so I don't think extending an olive branch is that bad of a thing to do."

"He may have had a momentary lapse in his normally evil judgment," Ron said with a frown, "but he is still an evil git, and I won't hear anything to the contrary."

"Well, it's a good thing my opinion on people isn't based on yours, isn't it?" Hermione said, crossing her arms.

"So you suddenly think Malfoy is a saint or something?" Ron asked, throwing his arms into the air in frustration.

She barked out a laugh. "Obviously I don't, Ronald. It's not like the past seven years just never happened. But, whether you like it or not, what happened this week was huge. Monumental. Things change. People change." She shrugged, opened the door, and left him standing there watching her with his mouth open.

She thought bitterly to herself that if he had just approached this in a more honest manner, just admitting to her that he was feeling sort of jealous about her spending time with Draco, she probably would have responded nicely. She probably would have reached out, touched Ron's arm, and told him he had nothing to worry about because of course he didn't. She and Ron were finally on the cusp of a relationship that had been years in the making, and she had no intention of derailing that for the likes of Draco Malfoy, even if he had saved her life. But that didn't mean she couldn't be friends with Draco, and who was Ron to tell her who she could and couldn't be friendly with? 

* * *

 

That Friday, the group stepped out of the tent, and with a wave of his wand, Potter had it neatly folded down. Granger opened a beaded bag that Draco had quickly learned could hold an infinite amount of stuff, and shoved the entire tent inside. 

"Right, so don't forget," Draco said, turning to the group. He hated addressing them all, as he knew they didn't like listening to him, but he had knowledge of the Dark Lord's infrastructure, so he had to chime in here. "They have Caterwauler Charms set up in Hogsmeade, so we need to apparate slightly outside of the village, in the mountains. That works anyway, since the place we are going is apparently up in the mountains, but just remember to focus on the mountains and not on Hogsmeade itself, or we will instantly alert the Dark Lord of our arrival."

Everyone nodded and, as they had discussed, paired off into "apparating buddies" so that if they landed a little distance apart, at least no one would be on their own. Ollivander and Griphook were partners, especially since Griphook couldn't apparate on his own. Granger and Weasley were partnered off, and Draco averted his eyes as they joined hands to prepare for their apparation. He didn't know why it bothered him so much, but he just kept thinking about how much smarter Granger was than Weasley and how frustrating it must be for her to have a conversation with him. Potter and Lovegood joined up, so that left Draco with Thomas.

Everyone joined hands, nodded at each other, and turned on the spot. When they landed, Draco was immediately hit with the cold air in the mountains, even in early April. He pulled his cloak around him and then said, "Bibsey?" as planned so that the house elf could join them. She appeared instantly, and Draco offered her a small smile. "Glad you made it," he said. 

"Bibsey will always come to join master," she said to him, bowing slightly.

"The others can't be far," Thomas said next to Draco. "Ah, yeah, there are Ron and Hermione..." he said, pointing to a spot just uphill from where they stood. They walked to meet them. Draco noted with annoyance that Weasley still hadn't let go of Granger's hand, despite the fact that they had apparated over a minute previously.

"Mr. Ollivander!" Granger was shouting. Draco turned around to see the frail old man and the goblin hobbling up the mountain together. He winced, knowing this journey, though not overly far for a bunch of seventeen-year-olds, was not going to be easy for the two of them. Eventually, the pair came to join them.

"All right, so that just leaves Harry and Luna," Granger said, looking around worriedly. Draco didn't see the telltale black hair or the scraggly blonde hair anywhere.

"Well, they can't have landed in Hogsmeade," Draco chimed in, hoping to soothe her anxiety. "We would be able to hear the Caterwauler Charms from here. Trust me, they are incredibly loud."

Granger nodded, and Weasley, as though trying to say something helpful, said, "Er, yeah, I'm sure they aren't far."

After looking around for another minute or two, Granger said, "Right, okay, let's head to the cave. Maybe Harry and Luna will meet us there. Maybe they landed on the other side or something."

They began hiking. Draco knew roughly where the cave was, and Granger had said the hike shouldn't take more than half an hour. Ten minutes in, though, Ollivander was struggling, and Griphook had sat down on a rock saying, "This is a wizard's trip. I don't even know why I'm being dragged along."

"We told you," Granger said impatiently, "We have a role for you. We need you to stick around."

Draco furrowed his brow, wondering what the role for this goblin could possibly be. Of course, the group didn't fill him in on anything to do with this top secret mission Dumbledore had left Potter, so Draco was totally in the dark.

"I will not be trekking this mountain a moment longer," the goblin said, his mouth curled into a sneer. "This work is beneath me!"

Draco snorted, which earned him a reproachful look from Granger. Weasley, however, sighed and said, "Why don't you just climb onto my back, Griphook? I'll help you up." 

Granger looked at Weasley in surprise, and Draco noted with annoyance that this was probably earning the redhead some kind of brownie points. She loved magical creatures, he knew, and Weasley offering to sink so low as to carry one up a mountain obviously impressed her. 

Several grumbles and complaints later, Griphook had clambered onto Weasley's back, and the group was about to get moving again when Draco noticed Ollivander was still lagging behind. "Hang on," he said, calling the rest of the group's attention. He nodded at Ollivander, paused, and then said, "Mr. Ollivander, would you like me to levitate you? It might be easier. I know you are probably weakened from your time..." He paused, not wanting to finish the sentence, but finally said, "From your time being imprisoned at Malfoy Manor. I'm glad to help."

Granger's face lit up once again in surprise, this time aimed at Draco, and he felt himself flush with color. Had he unconsciously offered to help the old wandmaker just to impress Granger? Surely not...

"That's a very kind offer," Ollivander said, and he gestured at Draco to get on with it. Draco wordlessly levitated him ahead of himself, and the group began the last two-thirds of the trek up to the cave.

When they finally arrived, Granger breathed a loud sigh of relief to find Potter and Lovegood waiting. "Oh, Harry!" she exclaimed, running to hug her friend. "When you didn't show up, I was so worried."

"Er, yeah, well, when we apparated, I think Luna sort of...pulled us in a slightly different direction," Potter said, shifting uncomfortably. 

"The other side of the mountain has such a lovely view of the lake, and you can see the Snorcack's flying around above the Forbidden Forest," Lovegood said dreamily. Draco rolled his eyes, but Granger just seemed relieved they were okay. Lovegood continued, "Plus, it was nice to have a moment away from the entire group." 

Everyone looked at her awkwardly, but Draco furrowed his brow for probably a different reason than the rest of the group. The rest of them, he assumed, felt awkward because they assumed Lovegood was annoyed at being around them all the time. Draco, however, wondered if it was more likely that Lovegood was glad to be alone with Potter...

His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of several people approaching from up the mountain. Everyone turned as one and pointed their wands at the sound of approaching hikers. Draco hoped against hope--for the first time in his life--that these new arrivals were from the Order.

Sure enough, the forms of Kingsley Shacklebolt, Remus Lupin, the Weasley twins, and someone he vaguely recognized as his cousin, Nymphadora Tonks, came into view. Draco started to lower his wand but noticed that no one else did.

Potter approached Shacklebolt first, wand pointed directly at him. "What did I tell you before the fiasco at the wedding this summer?" he asked. Draco was confused.

"You told me to keep the Weasleys safe after you disappeared, that they were the closest thing to family you had left." Draco thought he understood. Potter was checking their identities.

Potter nodded and moved to Lupin. "Who was Prongs?"

Lupin smiled sadly. "Your father, James Potter."

Potter moved to the Weasley twins next. "How did you get your joke shop started?" he asked, pointing his wand at both of them in turn.

They responded, at the same, time, "With your winnings from the Triwizard Tournament." This made Draco raise his eyebrows. So Potter had just given away a thousand Galleons for a joke shop startup? 

Finally, Potter came to Nymphadora Tonks, who was sporting purple hair today, and said, "What form does your Patronus take?"

She smiled, and Draco thought she glanced over at Lupin before she said, "A very specific werewolf."

With that, it was as though a spell was broken, and the group all rushed forward as one, hugging the members of the Order. Draco hung back, not sure what his place was in all of this. He knew he couldn't run and joyously hug the joiners. They hardly knew him, and what they knew wouldn't be very good. After all, Draco thought sadly, there hadn't been much good to know about him in the past few years.

When they'd all greeted each other and thrown up some protective enchantments to hide their meeting spot, Kingsley turned to Draco and said, "I understand you've done something of a switch in sides."

Draco considered the question. He didn't really consciously decide to switch sides, so had he really switched sides? He knew he didn't want to be a Death Eater anymore, but did that mean he was ready to jump into the Order of the Phoenix? Did he have much of a choice?

Suddenly, Granger was speaking, saying, "Malfoy saved my life. He saved all of our lives. You-Know-Who would have shown up and murdered us all, if Bellatrix didn't do it first." She paused. "He killed Bellatrix."

Nymphadora Tonks gasped and then smiled. "If you killed that sadistic bitch, you're good with me." Draco responded with a small smile of his own, grateful that someone didn't seem to think he was a total monster.

"Right," Kingsley said, his calming voice bringing everyone back from Nymphadora's almost-joke. "Well, if this is the case, Hermione is definitely right. Your parents are in grave danger, if they are still alive at all. It's time to do something about that."

 

 


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is my birthday, so here is a present for you guys! :)
> 
> B

Draco's palms were sweaty as they all apparated to the Burrow. He felt like going to Weasley's house was, for some reason, one step too far on this weird journey he had found himself in. This was really going into the belly of the beast, the home of the enemy. But...these people weren't his enemies anymore, he supposed. They were the best chance he had at saving his parents. 

They clambered inside the small, crooked house, and Draco tried his best to keep his face neutral. True, the Burrow wasn't the pig sty Draco had always imagined it to be, but it was cramped and hectic, full to the brim with far too many people. Draco assumed many of the faces he didn't know were Order members. 

"This is the headquarters of the Order now," Lupin said. "It's a bit cramped, but we obviously couldn't use the old headquarters, especially not after you lot hid there for weeks last September." He grinned at Potter. Draco wondered where the old headquarters had been, but he didn't ask.

From around the corner, a redheaded woman appeared who Draco remembered as the Weasleys' mother. He shifted uncomfortably, knowing he had referred to her as "dumpy" plenty of times. Now he was imposing on her hospitality, expecting her to welcome him with open arms. He wouldn't blame her if she kicked him to the curb on sight.

Instead, she walked over to Draco and said, in a kind voice, "I heard about what you did to save Hermione and the others. You may not have always been bosom friends, but we appreciate what you did all the same. We are going to try our very best to save your parents, I hope you know that, dear." She paused. "Now, who is hungry?"

Everyone roared in delight. Clearly mealtime at the Burrow was something of an ordeal. But Draco just started at Molly Weasley's back feeling about two inches tall. 

Would he ever feel like he had earned any niceties toward him? Would he ever not feel like he was intruding on something not meant for him? Probably not, he thought.

It was too cramped to eat inside, so a long table was placed out in the garden for the twenty or so people that would be having dinner at the Burrow. As Mrs. Weasley got everything ready, Bibsey insisted on helping, which left Mrs. Weasley looking distinctly pleased and flustered. Draco took a seat toward the end of the table, trying to keep to himself, as Molly Weasley insisted on ladling huge portions of Shepherd's Pie onto his plate, much more than he thought he was ever going to be able to eat. Just as he was about to take his first bite, Granger slid into the space next to him, and Weasley sat down on her other side. Draco almost rolled his eyes. Didn't Weasley ever leave that poor girl alone?

 _That poor girl?_ Draco's mind whispered.  _Since when is she "that poor girl?"_   He ignored his own thoughts.

"Mrs. Weasley's cooking is the best you'll ever have," Granger said, clearly trying to make light conversation. Meanwhile, Weasley was already shoveling mouthfuls of mashed potato into his mouth.

"I guess I'll be the judge of that," Draco said, his mouth curling into a smirk he hadn't felt in what felt like forever. For a second, he felt a ghost of his younger self appear. He lifted his fork to his mouth, and he had to stop from moaning. It was damn good, and they'd been surviving off of what they could find, though Bibsey had done the best she could with their ingredients. "Mrs. Weasley," Draco said once he had swallowed his first mouthful. "This...this is divine."

Mrs. Weasley blushed pink and muttered her thanks to Draco, saying things like, "Oh, don't be silly, dear," and, "I'm sure you've grown up with much finer dining."

"Nothing I ever had growing up matches this," Draco said honestly. Mrs. Weasley smiled kindly at him.

As Draco turned back to his plate to keep eating, he caught a glimpse of Weasley's angry expression. Growing up, he knew he would have used this as an opportunity to launch into Weasley, asking him what his problem was, and probably including some jab at his stupid face or poor upbringing. This time, though, Draco glanced briefly at Granger, who had a small smile on her face, and decided to ignore whatever was wrong with Weasley.

After Molly had forced second and third helpings on everyone, Lupin finally announced it was time to have a meeting. "Out here is as good a place as any," he said. "No one should be able to hear us with all of the protective enchantments." He paused. "We have to come up with a plan for the Malfoys."

There was a tense silence. 

"Remind me again why the Malfoys are our problem?" a dingy looking wizard at the other end of the table. Draco tried to mask his immediate dislike.

"Because, Dung," Potter retorted, "Many of us at this table wouldn't be alive if Malfoy here hadn't stepped in and saved us. He switched sides, and he believes his parents want to switch sides as well. Who are we to decide whether someone should live or die?" Draco could have died of shock. Harry Potter was coming to his defense in front of a bunch of much more accomplished witches and wizards. Had hell frozen over, too? Did pigs fly? Also, had Potter said that wizard's name was Dung?

People exchanged glances with each other, and Shacklebolt said, "The Order of the Phoenix is supposed to be different than the Death Eaters. We are supposed to help people, to bring the light wherever we can, whatever it takes." His low, rumbling voice was soothing, and Draco immediately thought he understood why they'd chosen him as the head of the Order after Dumbledore had died. Everyone at the table began murmuring to each other, and to Draco's surprise, they began slowly nodding their heads at Shacklebolt. When he noticed their assent, Shacklebolt said, "Right, so we need a plan."

"How do we--er," Granger cut herself off, looking over at Draco with something that looked remarkably like pity. "Well, I mean to say, shouldn't we try to ascertain they are still alive before we attempt a rescue mission."

 _Ah, Granger,_ Draco thought.  _Always logical. Always pragmatic. Even when you're discussing the fact that your dinner neighbor's parents might well be dead._

"Yes, and I had a thought on that," Potter said. "Bibsey got us in and out of Malfoy Manor. I'm assuming there are other elves there?" He quirked an eyebrow up at Draco, who nodded. "Can you call any of the other elves to ask for an update?"

"That's risky," Nymphadora Tonks chimed in. "They could have Death Eaters waiting to apparate with the elves in case Malfoy does just that."

A few people grumbled their agreement, but Lupin said, "I find that pretty doubtful." He looked over at his wife. "You-Know-Who undervalues magical creatures. He probably doesn't realize Bibsey is missing at all, much less that she is the one who helped everyone escape." He turned to Potter. "Did anyone see Bibsey get you all out of the dungeon?" he asked. 

Potter shook his head.

"If anyone realizes Bibsey is missing," Lupin continued, "It is likely Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy themselves, and I strongly doubt they would mention that, as I am sure they are concerned for their son's safety." He paused. "I think Harry's suggestion is a good one." He offered a small smile in Potter's direction, and Potter returned it with a nod.

"Er, well, shall we try it then?" Granger asked, looking at Draco.

Draco felt nervous to call the elf he knew was bound to his mother. He, of course, should answer to Draco, as the heir presumptive of Malfoy house, but he still found himself nervous at what was to come. But, as it was, everyone was looking at him expectantly, so he stood up, cleared his throat and said, as clearly as he could manage, "Farbey?"

Crack. A house elf with an overly long nose and a white pillowcase toga not unlike Bibsey's appeared at Draco's side.

"Master Draco," the elf said, bowing as low as he could manage. His long nose nearly touched the ground. He straightened up and then looked around, seemingly surprised to find so many people in Draco's company, especially people he had never seen before. "Where is we, Master Draco?"

"Never mind that, Farbey," he said, waving his hand. He knew he couldn't divulge the information in case Farbey was questioned. "Farbey, I need to know what is going on with my mother and father since I disappeared."

Farbey's eyes filled up with tears, and he choked out a wail. Draco's stomach dropped. "Farbey, answer me!" he commanded, his voice coming off harsher than he meant to.

"Oh, Master Draco, Master Draco," the little elf sobbed. "You isn't knowing. How is I supposed to be the one to deliver such terrible news?" He sobbed harder and harder, and finally he looked up at Draco and said, "Master Lucius and Mistress Narcissa is gone. The Dark Lord is killing them."

The entire table was silent as Draco slumped back into his seat, eyes wide and unblinking. 

 


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been trying to update every weekday at work, but I celebrated a little too hard Wednesday night for my birthday and ended up missing work yesterday. LOL. So here is your Friday update. Enjoy!
> 
> B

Draco would never remember getting up from the table and walking out across the large, unkempt garden. He must have known he couldn't go so far as to be outside of the protective spells because he stopped short eventually. The sun was setting, and Draco was staring at the faint line on the horizon which was just now a purple-blue color, like a bruise, like dark circles under eyes. Soon, the dark color would bleed into the pink of the sky, and the darkness would win out, just as it did every night. Just as, apparently, it did in life as well.

Eventually, Draco came to enough to hear footsteps behind him. Normally, he knew, he would have whipped around, wand in hand, in case someone was approaching for an attack. Now, though, he couldn't be bothered. If someone wanted to attack him, so be it. He didn't have it in him to protect himself. 

But the footsteps continued approaching - a single person - and soon he felt someone stand by his side, shoulder-to-shoulder with him. He didn't glance over, but he could tell from her height, from her bushy hair blowing slightly in the night breeze, and from that unique smell she carried - was it lavender? - that it was Granger.

"Malfoy," she said softly, and she placed her hand on his forearm. She hadn't thought about it, of course, but it was his left forearm, the one that reminded him what an idiot he had been and now with such catastrophic results. He jerked his arm away and looked down at her. 

She was quiet for a moment and then said, "Draco..." 

It was the first time he could remember hearing her use his given name. It was said softly, with no malice, almost like a song a mother would sing to a child to soothe him. It was tinged with pity, but more so than that, it was colored with concern. He looked away from her, back at the sky, where a half-moon had come into view.

"I'm...I'm so sorry," she said. "We all are."

Draco swallowed hard. He didn't want to have this conversation with anyone, especially not with Granger. If he hadn't rescued her...but he cut that thought off. There was no use in that now. He  _had_ rescued her. He had made his choice to be a hero, and now he had to live with the consequences.

"It isn't your fault," she said in a small voice, as though she knew what was going through his head. 

He exhaled sharply through his nose in incredulity. "Of course it is."

She reached out for his arm again, pulling him to turn toward her. "No it isn't. No one is responsible for this except You-Know-Who. He has taken away so many people. Harry's parents, Neville's parents, Sirius, even Dumbledore." She paused. "The only way to stop it from happening again is to end him once and for all."

"Snape killed Dumbledore," Draco corrected her. "And Bellatrix killed Sirius Black."

Granger shook her head. "Don't you see? Those people were doing his bidding. If he hadn't commanded them to die, they wouldn't have. He is pure evil, Malfoy, and it's time we put an end to it."

Draco considered her words, but he felt so drained, so lifeless. He couldn't imagine ever feeling alive enough again to care one way or another what happened to the Dark Lord.

"Surely you want to avenge your parents?" she asked, releasing his arm.

He turned his head sharply toward her. "Of course I want to avenge my parents," he said, his blood pumping deafeningly through his ears. Her words had awoken him, had energized him. This was something he could focus on. Maybe if he could avenge his parents, he wouldn't feel so dead inside. Maybe that is all that could bring him back to life.

"Then you have to stay with us, Draco," she said. He glanced fleetingly at her again, because she had said his name again, and his stomach flipped. "You have to stay with us and fight. For them. For your parents."

Draco stared at her and didn't look away, his gray eyes boring into her brown. He considered what she had said, and he knew in that moment he wasn't going anywhere. He had made the decision to fight against the Dark Lord when he had heard the witch in front of him being tortured, when he had heard her screams and couldn't take it anymore. Something about her had flipped a switch somewhere inside of him, and though he didn't really know what it meant or why seeing her tortured had been different from seeing others, it had happened. He could not and would not turn back.

She must not have been uncomfortable with his gaze because she didn't look away either. Her Gryffindor courage was shining through as she stared resolutely at him, daring him to contradict her. Finally, he looked upwards, at the sky that was now completely midnight blue. Just as he'd known it would, the darkness had won out, but - he thought almost wryly to himself - in a few hours, the light would win again. 

"It's always darkest just before the dawn," he said and shrugged. "Or something like that."

She apparently didn't think his comment was odd because she didn't question or contradict him. She just said, "We can do this. I know we can. We're only stronger now that you're with us."

"You think I make your side stronger?" he asked, raising a brow. 

"I know you do," she said. She wasn't smiling. Her face was fierce. She looked protective. Of what? Herself? Him? Her friends? 

Of everything, he realized. Of her entire world. He realized with a jolt that when he saved her life, and the lives of her friends, that he became a part of that world. He had fallen into that sphere that Hermione Granger protected fiercely. He was the odd man out, sure. He would probably never fit in properly. But he was a part of it, and he was alive, which is more than he could have expected if he'd stayed on the Dark Lord's side. He knew that he and his parents had been in constant danger of death and probably would never have made it out of the water. His parents might not have, but he had made it further than they had. In a strange way, deciding to save Granger's life had saved his life. That hadn't been his aim - he didn't really know what his aim had been - but what an interesting outcome.

"Then we fight," he said simply, as though it wasn't the most complicated situation in his life, as though he wasn't confused past the point of being able to even put that confusion into words.

She offered him a sad little smile. "Then we fight," she agreed. She paused and then said, "Don't stay out here too long. Mrs. Weasley will worry herself sick."

She turned to walk back to the crooked silhouette of the Burrow, and Draco was surprised to find that he fell into step a few paces behind her. Apparently he didn't want to be alone.

 


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! I took the weekend off, but I'm back with your Monday post, and it's kind of a long one. Enjoy!
> 
> B

Sleeping arrangements were interesting that night at the Burrow. Potter, Weasley, Thomas, and Draco were all stuffed inside Weasley's top-floor room that was filled with far too much orange. Griphook and Ollivander were spending the night in the lounge. Granger and Lovegood were sleeping down in Weasley's little sister's room. She was home for the Easter holidays, and from what Draco had overheard, he didn't think she would be returning to school. It sounded like Snape had the place totally locked down. He was surprised she had even been allowed to return home for the holidays. The Carrows were running the school, with Snape locked up in the Headmaster's office like the overgrown bat he was, and the leader of the resistance was Neville Longbottom.

What was the world coming to? Longbottom being a leader? Draco fighting with the Order? What was next? Would Umbridge adopt several small children and buy them all ponies?

Draco was struggling to get to sleep on the uncomfortable little cot, and he didn't think he was the only one still awake. He didn't hear anyone breathing deeply. It was as though they were waiting for something.

Sure enough, after a few minutes of Draco absently wondering why no one else was sleeping, he heard a pop. Granger, Weaslette, and Lovegood all appeared. Granger had clearly side-alonged them, as they wouldn't be old enough yet to have taken their tests. Draco jumped at the loud crack of their apparition, and everyone sat up in their beds.

"Thought you were never going to arrive," Weasley said in a grumpy tone, scooting over so Weaslette and Granger could perch on the edge of his bed. Lovegood crossed the room and perched on the edge of Potter's.

"Sorry, your mum has been pacing the halls," Granger said. Draco could only make out her outline in the darkness.

"I'm surprised the wood hasn't got holes in it from her pacing," Weaslette said. Draco almost laughed. Again, what was the world coming to? A Weasley making him laugh. Then she said something that wiped the half-smile off of his face. "Are we safe to talk with  _him_ in here?" It was dark, but it didn't take a genius to know who she was referring to.

Draco bit back a retort, and surprisingly, it was Weasley who said, "Ginny, give it a rest."

"No, I won't," she said. "I get it. Today has been awful for him, and I'm not a monster. I can understand that. But I haven't been on the run with you guys. I don't know everything. You're going to have to catch me up."

Granger's voice was uncharacteristically cold when she said, "No, you  _don't_ know everything that's gone on, Ginny." She paused. "Draco saved my life, at the expense of his parents' lives. He also killed his aunt and turned his back on the most dangerous dark wizard in the world."

The air was thick with tension. Draco imagined he could see Weaslette blushing red to the roots of her hair. 

"So do you have any other questions?" Granger asked, her tone still icy.

"Er," Weaslette said. "I guess not. Not about that."

"Good."

After a few beats of silence, Potter sighed. "I think I am going to need to fill everyone in on my mission after all."

"What?" Granger asked loudly, and Weasley said, "Shh!"

"Sorry, but what are you talking about, Harry?" Granger said. "Dumbledore said we were to tell no one."

Potter sighed, and Draco could tell he was thinking, hard. "I know that, Hermione, but it's been months, and we still have three left." _Three? Three what?_ Draco wondered.

"The only people that need to know are the ones that are going to help us get rid of them," Granger argued.

Weasley sighed. "I see what you mean, Harry. They're not going to leave us." He turned to face Granger in the darkness. "These  _are_ the people that are going to help us get rid of them."

Draco was confused but trying as best as he could to follow along. Their mission from Dumbledore included destroying three things. He assumed it was linked to the Dark Lord. He assumed getting rid of whatever these things were would result in the Dark Lord dying. It must have been important to keep it a secret because if the Dark Lord found out, he would...well, he would probably hide whatever it was that they were trying to get rid of. Hide them better than they were surely already hidden, that is.

Suddenly, Draco remembered a whispered conversation he'd overheard years before, the summer he'd turned twelve. His mother and father had been arguing in hushed tones in his father's study. 

"You can't send a thing like that into a school, Lucius," his mother had snarled. 

"It's just a diary," his father had said, trying to play innocent.

His mother had hissed. "You know good and well that's not just a diary. It's got a bit of the Dark Lord inside of it." She had paused. "I'm not familiar with  _how_ something like this is created, but I have heard of monstrosities like this before. The Blacks...they have a long line of both intelligence and madness. They talked about things like this with...almost with reverence."

Lucius didn't say anything for a few moments. Finally he said, "The Dark Lord just said that it would make the Chamber of Secrets reopen. Is that so bad?"

"Firstly, yes, it is. It's a school, Lucius. There are children there who cannot defend themselves. Secondly, that is not all that diary is, no matter what you think. It's a horcrux, I just know it!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Lucius snarled, and Draco saw him get up and cross the room to his mother, taking her arm roughly in his hand. Draco felt the urge to run in and take his mother out of the room, to safety. He was mistaken, though, because his mother could more than take care of herself. She threw his father's hand off of her and turned to walk to the door. Draco had to sprint off to get away in time, but he heard his father yell after her. "Even the Dark Lord wouldn't do that."

Back in Weasley's room, as he listened to Granger try to convince Potter to keep his secret between them, Draco said, almost as if in a daze, "It was a horcrux, wasn't it?"

"What?!" Granger, Weasley, and Potter all said at once in indignation.

"What?" Weaslette, Thomas, and Lovegood all said at once in confusion. 

"What made you say that?" Granger said sharply, standing up and moving to stand over Draco's cot.

It was still like he was in a trance, unsure as to how he had ever put the conversation he'd heard between his parents out of his mind. "I...I heard my mum mention it a long time ago, before..." He paused, knowing this would be a sore subject. "Before my father planted that diary on Weaslette."

"My name is Ginny," Weaslette snarled, but Granger put her hand up to silence her.

"And? What of it?" Granger asked Draco.

"That diary was a horcrux, wasn't it? I've heard of them, but I didn't know that anyone had actually created any." Draco tried to keep the awe out of his voice. Of course he was mostly disgusted, because though he didn't know much about horcruxes, he knew they were just about the most evil magic someone could perform, which probably meant they had something to do with murder, death, etc. Still, from a perspective of magical learning, he was somewhat awed. He couldn't believe the Dark Lord had pushed the boundaries of magic so far as to do something  _this_ unnatural.

He'd known a madman had taken up residence in his house, but he hadn't known just how mad the madman truly was. 

"What the bloody hell is a horcrux?" Thomas chimed in. 

Granger was still staring down at Draco, but after a few moments, she sighed and turned around to face Potter. "You might as well tell them now, Harry," she said. Her tone was a very "I hope you don't live to regret this" tone.

Potter was eyeing Draco too, he could feel it, but after a few moments he said, "Right, well, I might as well start with what a horcrux is. It's an object a witch or wizard conceals a part of their soul in. While the object remains unharmed, the soul remains tethered to the earth. So even if the witch or wizard's body is destroyed, they are still tethered to life by the horcrux."

"Holy shit," Thomas and Lovegood said at the same time.

"Er, yes," Potter said, as though he wasn't surprised to have heard Lovegood utter a swear word. 

"So...so you think You-Know-Who made a h-horcrux?" Weaslette asked, her voice unusually quiet.

"No," Potter said, and just before the group could sigh with relief, he said, "We think he made six."

"Six?!" they asked as one, even Draco. He couldn't believe that someone could split their soul enough, could maim themselves enough to make not one, not two, but SIX horcruxes. The Dark Lord's horrible appearance, closer to a snake than a man, suddenly made sense. He had blurred the boundaries, pushed and pushed until he was something inhuman.

"We think he intended to have seven pieces of his soul, and the seventh piece would still be in his body. The diary was one," he said, and he paused here. "I didn't think your father knew it was a horcrux. Why would he have been so careless with it if he thought it was a piece of You-Know-Who's soul?"

"My father didn't believe it was a horcrux," Draco said. "My mother guessed what it was, and my father thought she was being foolish. After I heard the word, I researched to find out what a horcrux was, but by the time I found out, the diary was long-since destroyed, and I also thought my mother was being foolish."

Everyone was looking at him now, and Draco tried not to feel uncomfortable as their eyes roved over his silhouette in the darkness. 

"What are the other horcruxes?" Thomas asked.

"Well, we know the diary was one," Granger repeated. "Then Dumbledore destroyed this old ring. Then there was a locket that belonged to Slytherin, which is the only one we have hunted down and destroyed."

"How on earth did you destroy it?" Lovegood's high voice asked.

"Er, that's sort of a weird story that actually happened not long before you we found you guys at Malfoy Manor," Weasley said. "I, er, I had left Harry and Hermione on the run..."

"You WHAT?!" Weaslette burst out, and Draco was amused to find her anger was far worse when it was aimed at someone in her own family.

"Long story, Ginny," Hermione said in an exasperated tone. "Let him stay on track for the moment."

Weaslette huffed, but after a few seconds of silence, Weasley continued. "When I came back, I saw Harry following a Patronus. I thought it was his own, not realizing it was missing the antlers. I watched it lead him to this frozen pool of water, and then I watched Harry's thick self decide to jump into the water with the bloody locket still around his neck. It had almost choked him to death when I jumped in after him to pull him out. When I got in there, I noticed something silver at the bottom of the pool, so I threw Harry out and then swam down to get it. When I pulled it out, I realized it was the Sword of Gryffindor."

Draco's brow was furrowed. "So the Sword of Gryffindor can conveniently destroy horcruxes?" he asked.

"Only because it's full of basilisk venom," Hermione supplied. "From when Harry stabbed the basilisk in second year."

Everyone was quiet for a few moments before Dean Thomas said, "Blimey."

"So what are the other horcruxes?" Weaslette asked.

Potter said, "Dumbledore thought they would likely be something belonging to Hufflepuff, something belonging to Ravenclaw, and...and his snake."

"Nagini?" Draco asked, the name like something bitter on his tongue.

"The very same," Potter said solemnly. "And he showed me a memory of this lady, this horrible descendant of Hufflepuff's who was a hoarder, and she had collected the locket as well. Slytherin's locket. But she also had this little cup belonging to Hufflepuff, so I think You-Know-Who probably stole that at the same time as the locket."

"What was the Patronus you were following?" Draco asked suddenly. "What did Weasley mean about it missing the antlers?"

"My Patronus is a stag," Potter explained. "The Patronus I was following was a doe." He paused, feeling something heavy in Draco's intake of breath followed by silence. "Why?" he asked sharply.

"I know whose Patronus that was," Draco said slowly, unsure what to make of this twist in events. "I've seen it before, I mean... I grew up around him." He paused.

"Well?" Weaslette said impatiently.

"That Patronus belongs to Snape."

 


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost said "Happy Monday" on a Tuesday, so that's the kind of day I'm having. Thanks for all the wonderful comments! They make a rainy day like today better!
> 
> B

It had been well after midnight before they'd finally gone to bed. When Draco awoke the next morning, Potter was already pacing, clearly still thinking through the big question that had lingered in the air the night before: what was Snape up to? Draco pretended he was still sleeping to have some time to think.

It was unlike Draco to spend his time suspicious of Snape; that was a very "Potter and the gang" thing to do. Still, it was a welcome distraction from the grief about his parents, which was just below the surface and threatening to burst through at any moment. So, in a very "Malfoy and the gang" manner, he repressed that grief and decided to focus on Snape.

He knew Snape was on the Dark Lord's side. He had to be. No one could lie to the Dark Lord and survive it. Sure, Draco had managed to learn Occlumency well enough to convince the Dark Lord that he was chuffed with him living in his house, but he hadn't been hiding a whole separate life. That was far too much to hide, and Draco didn't think anyone could manage it. So why had Snape helped Potter? Why had he led him to the sword? It must have been some sort of trap. But that didn't sound right...it had successfully destroyed a horcrux, one of the six objects most precious to the Dark Lord. Perhaps Snape hadn't realized why Potter would need the sword. But even so, why would he offer up a weapon to the arch nemesis of someone he supposedly supported?

He couldn't figure it out, but he knew for sure Snape wasn't what he seemed to be, and he wasn't sure yet if that was a good or bad thing. If only he could talk to him...

"Breakfast, boys!" Mrs. Weasley said suddenly with a loud knock on the door. Weasley and Thomas roused groggily.

"How long have you been pacing, Harry?" Weasley asked. "Bit creepy that I'm here dead asleep and you're just pacing all around us."

"Yeah, bit creepy," Draco agreed.

Potter rolled his eyes. "I know you've been awake at least half an hour, Malfoy," he said, striding toward the door. "You were talking in your sleep and then stopped."

Malfoy froze. What had he said in his sleep? But before he could even ask, Potter was gone and headed down the stairs. Weasley and Thomas followed suit, Weasley stretching and revealing his ankles beneath his too-short pajamas. Draco watched after them, heart pounding at what he might have said in front of Potter of all people, and eventually followed them down for breakfast.

* * *

It took all day to get up the nerve to do it, but Draco eventually said, "Potter, I need to speak to you."

Everyone looked up from where they were sitting in the Weasley sitting room. Every look aimed at him was suspicious, except Granger's. She looked genuinely curious and a bit annoyed at being left out of whatever Draco wanted to talk to Potter about. 

"All right then," Potter said slowly, and he walked out of the sitting room and into the blissfully empty kitchen. Mrs. Weasley must be upstairs somewhere. "What is it?" he said, rounding on Draco. Draco noticed at least Potter didn't have his wand pointed at him. That was a bit of an improvement.

"I need to find a way to speak to Snape," Draco said, just as he had rehearsed in his head. 

Potter surprised Draco by sighing and pulling out a chair to sit. He gestured for Draco to do the same. "I've been thinking the same thing," Potter said in a low voice. "I can't figure out why Snape would have helped me, and even if he didn't know that the sword could destroy horcruxes, why would he want me to have a sword? It isn't cursed or anything. Ron, Hermione, and I have all held it."

Draco could hardly believe Potter was agreeing with him. "So...so you think I should speak to Snape as well?"

Potter nodded. "I mean, it makes sense. You were a Death Eater."

Draco felt his stomach flip at the word "were." So Potter didn't still think of him as Death Eater scum? He tried not to get distracted. "I don't know how we could pull it off," he said, running his hand through his hair. "Hogwarts is supposed to be completely locked down."

"I've got a way of getting a message to Neville," Potter said. He paused, as if deciding whether to clue Draco in, and then said,  "The coins we used to communicate in Dumbledore's Army. They still work."

Draco shuffled his feet uncomfortably under the table. He felt badly now about ratting out Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge. She was a sick old toad. 

"Anyway," Potter said, clearly realizing what Draco was thinking about, "I will get a message to Neville and see if he can think of any way to get you into Hogwarts. A few of us will go with you, of course. We can't have you going in alone."

"Why not?" Draco asked, confused. 

"Because you're part of this now, whether any of us like it or not," Potter said. His face was a grimace of sorts, as was Draco's. Then he said, "Look, I know it's weird, and I know we aren't friends, but Hermione's right. You bring something important to this."

"She said that?" Draco asked, eyebrows raised.

"Don't sound too excited," Potter said, and he almost had a smirk on his face as he stood up. 

"What does that mean?" Draco asked, panicked.

Potter chuckled from the doorway. "Oh, nothing of course. I'll let you know when I hear back from Neville."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one was short! Work was busier today than I had anticipated. At least we got a little Harry/Draco interaction. I will update again tomorrow. Please rate and review! It really does mean a lot!
> 
> B


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again - this time with a longer update to apologize for yesterday's being so short! Enjoy.
> 
> B

It took about a day for Potter to hear back from Neville, and true to his word (as Gryffindors were known to be), Potter let Draco know as soon as he heard back.

"Apparently they can sneak people in through a portrait in the Hog's Head," Potter said in a hushed tone to Draco. They were in the corner of the kitchen as everyone was loading their plates up for dinner. The din of everyone's chatter was a good cover.

"Well, I can't go into Hogsmeade without setting off the Caterwauler Charms," Draco reminded him.

" _We_ can't, you mean," Potter corrected him. Draco rolled his eyes but nodded. "Well, Neville says that the owner of the Hog's Head has apparently lifted the apparition wards on his bar. The Death Eaters haven't caught onto that yet. But that means we can apparate directly into the pub."

"Brilliant," Draco said with a grin. "Looks like I may just get my chat with Snape after all." He paused. "You're sure you want to come along?"

"I feel pretty certain everyone will want to when we tell them," Potter said. 

Draco grimaced. "Why are you going to tell them all? It'll be dangerous for them to come. Let's just keep it between us."

"Not a chance," Potter said. "If they find out we went to Hogwarts and didn't tell them, I will be dead."

"What's the point of them going?" Draco challenged. "The whole point of the visit is for me to try to find out what Snape is up to. All telling them will do is put them in danger, for one, and possibly jeopardize the whole point of this mission, for two." 

Potter thought over what he was saying. "Let me think it through," he said finally. "I won't do anything before telling you first."

With that, he went and joined the rest of the group in getting dinner, leaving Draco looking after him in surprise. It was as though he and Potter were partners on this mission. They had a secret that not even Weasley or Granger knew. And speaking of Granger, Draco realized she was staring at him curiously, looking at the place Potter had just left. Clearing his throat, Draco hurriedly joined the rest of them.

After dinner, while Weaslette and Weasley were playing a loud game of Exploding Snap, Potter sat down next to Draco on a sofa under the guise of watching the game. "Fine, I won't tell them," he said in a low voice. "We can go just the two of us."

Draco breathed a sigh of relief. "I think it's for the best, Potter," he said.

Potter nodded next to him, watching the game. "I hope you're right."

"When are we going?"

"Tonight."

* * *

After everyone went to sleep that night, Potter sat up in bed. Draco was, of course, awake and listening. He glanced over at Potter and did as they had discussed: watched Potter leave the room, pretending he was headed to the loo. Draco counted in his head until he was sure it had been two minutes since Potter had gone. He sat up and looked around to make sure Thomas and Weasley were still sleeping soundly. By the sounds of their breathing, they were. As quietly as he could manage, he shifted off of the cot and stood up, following Potter's path out of the room. 

They met on the landing outside, and Potter whispered, "Were they all still asleep?" He had the tip of his wand lit, so Draco could see his face.

Draco nodded, and the pair began heading down the stairs. They winced every time the stairs creaked, and they tried to hit the landings as quietly as possible. Down and down they went, and Draco was cursing how tall and narrow the Burrow was.

Finally, they ended up in the sitting room, where Ollivander and Griphook were still sleeping at night. Mrs. Weasley had suggested moving them to Shell Cottage, where the eldest Weasley son lived, but Potter had said they needed to stay a little while for some reason. They'd been at the Burrow a week now, and it was really getting to be too cramped. 

They tiptoed through the sitting room, making their way to the kitchen, where the back door would finally let them outside. When they stepped into the kitchen, they were startled to find that it wasn't empty.

Granger was sitting at the table staring up at the doorway, waiting for them.

Potter started to say something, but Draco lightly hit his arm and put his finger over his mouth to mime  _Shh!_ He jerked his head back at the sitting room where Ollivander and Griphook were sitting. Then, looking at Granger and Potter, he jerked his head to the back door. They could talk once they were safely outside.

Once out in the garden, Potter said in a loud whisper, "Hermione, what are you doing here?"

"I heard you two whispering earlier," she said, her eyebrows raised. "I wasn't going to be left out of whatever you're up to. I didn't catch everything that's going on, but I knew you two were going to sneak off tonight, so I decided to wait for you." She paused. "I can't believe you didn't tell me, Harry. Or Ron."

Potter shifted guiltily, but before Granger could break his resolve, Draco said, "We were doing it to protect both of you. We don't need everyone in on this mission."

"What exactly  _is_ this mission?" Granger asked. When both Draco and Potter looked at her like they weren't going to budge, she said, "Oh come on, I already know you're sneaking out now. The rest of them are still safely in bed. What's the harm in including me?"

Some part of Draco's brain was screaming,  _What's the harm? I saved your life. I need you to stay alive._ He shook his head as if to clear his own thoughts. "Fine," he said. "We are sneaking into Hogwarts so I can try to talk to Snape to figure out what he's up to."

"WHAT?!" Granger said loudly, and then she winced, glancing up at the Burrow as if she'd be able to tell immediately whether anyone had woken up. "Malfoy, don't be so stupid. Snape is a Death Eater. He will tell You-Know-Who right away that you're in Hogwarts, and he will come and kill you."

"I don't think he's really a Death Eater," Draco admitted. "There is no reason he would have led Potter to the sword if he was."

Granger furrowed her brow, staring resolutely at Draco as if trying to find information on his face. He stared resolutely back. 

"And why are you going along?" she said finally, rounding on Potter.

"For one, I didn't want him going off on his own. He has too much information on the Order at this point," Potter said, and Draco's stomach twinged. He knew they didn't trust him, but hearing it outright like that stung. "Secondly, I think there may be a horcrux in Hogwarts, and I'm trying to figure out where it might be. I have no idea how I'm going to destroy it since those stupid Snatchers stole the Sword of Gryffindor, but it's better to have a horcrux and find a way to destroy it later than not to have it at all."

Granger couldn't argue with either point. Finally she sniffed and said, "Fine, the three of us will go. How exactly are you planning on getting in?"

Potter and Draco looked exasperatedly at each other, but they knew she wasn't going to give up, so eventually, they both rolled their eyes and filled her in on the plan. Potter had his invisibility cloak stowed safely in his pocket, as planned. Once they had briefed Granger on the plan, all three spun on the spot and appeared instantly in the Hog's Head.

The barman, who looked eerily familiar, was standing behind the bar. The place was totally empty, of course, since it was after midnight, but the barman stood there as if he had been expecting them. Draco realized that of course he had been. Longbottom had gotten a message to him.

"Potter," the man said gruffly. "Neville said you'd be arriving. I thought there were only supposed to be two of you?" He eyed Draco and Granger suspiciously.

"Yes, well, my friend here," he jerked his head at Granger, "is too nosy for her own good and caught us sneaking out."

"You must be Miss Granger," the barman said. "I've heard a lot about you."

"From who?" Draco asked, suddenly suspicious of the barman.

"My brother."

This seemed to confuse Granger and Potter as much as it confused Draco. "Who's your brother?" Potter asked.

"Who  _was_ my brother, you mean," the barman corrected him, and Draco noticed there was a twinkle in his blue eye. 

The other two must have noticed the same thing because they all said in unison, "Dumbledore."

The barman chuckled, but there was no smile on his face. "That's right. I'm the lesser-known Dumbledore brother, Aberforth. My brilliant brother didn't talk about me much."

Granger was watching the man intently. "You two...I mean to say, I know you supposedly had a difficult relationship."

"What do you know about our relationship?" he asked harshly toward her. Draco felt a fleeting urge to tell him to watch his tone, but he resisted. Besides, he knew Granger was more than capable of defending herself if she needed to.

"I just know what I've heard," Granger admitted. "But I know things were not easy for you and your brother after your sister, Ariana, died."

Aberforth's eyes clouded over then, no longer the clear blue. "Don't talk about Ariana," he said quietly. 

Draco was lost. How did Granger know any of this about the Dumbledore family? As if to answer his question, she said, "I know Rita Skeeter is a vile woman, but even the worst journalists are bound to report the truth from time to time, or at least a partial truth." Of course, Draco remembered. Granger had clearly somehow gotten her hands on Skeeter's recent book on Dumbledore's life. Draco momentarily marveled at how Granger had managed to read a new bestseller while on the run for the better part of a year, before Aberforth's words interrupted his thoughts.

"Skeeter didn't know anything. She bullied old Batty into giving her stories, but Batty didn't know the whole story either. No one knows it all anymore, except for me." He looked down sadly. "I'm the only one left," he added. 

"And Grindelwald," Granger corrected him. "He was there too, wasn't he?"

"That bastard died," Aberforth said, his voice back to harsh. "Earlier this year. They found his body. Looks like You-Know-Who did it personally."

Potter looked curious about that bit of news. "Why would he seek out Grindelwald?" he asked.

"Who knows? He's a madman, isn't he?" Aberforth said. "I reckon he kills just to kill at this point."

Potter nodded but looked as though he was stowing away that information for later. Perhaps he and Granger would pick through theories. Right now, though, Draco knew they were pressed for time and needed to get into Hogwarts and back out as quickly as possible to avoid detection.

"Look, we need to get going," Draco said. 

"Right," Potter said, shaking his head as though to pull himself back to reality, the present moment. "How are we supposed to get into Hogwarts? Neville said something about a portrait."

"It's just there," Aberforth mumbled, raising his hand to point at a portrait of a young girl across the bar. Draco thought Aberforth might be avoiding staring right at it, but maybe that was just his imagination. He, Potter, and Granger all crossed the bar to the portrait and saw a small shape growing larger from the background of the picture. As it got closer, it became clear that it was--

"Neville!" Granger shrieked as their fellow Gryffindor appeared from within the portrait and into real life. She glanced back at the portrait and then said, in Aberforth's direction, "The girl in this portrait is Ariana, isn't it?"

Aberforth didn't answer, and they took that as a yes.

"Neville, you've got to show us the way into the castle," Potter said urgently. 

"Uh," Longbottom said, glancing suspiciously over at Draco. "What the bloody hell is Malfoy doing with you? He's a Death Eater!"

Draco was somewhat shocked that word of his actions against the Dark Lord hadn't gotten out yet, but then again, he supposed the Dark Lord wouldn't want anyone knowing that someone had rebelled against him and joined the Order. If someone in the Order had done so, the Dark Lord would be spreading the gossip far and wide. This, though, he would want to keep hush hush. 

"He saved all of our lives and joined the Order," Potter said impatiently. "He killed Bellatrix Lestrange."

Longbottom's jaw dropped, and he looked quickly from Potter to Draco. "She-she's dead?" he asked after a few stunned moments.

"Yes, Neville," Granger said gently, placing a hand on Longbottom's arm. "She's dead."

Longbottom seemed to consider Draco for a few moments, and then he extended his hand. "I always planned to be the one to end her, to avenge my parents, but just knowing she's gone is good enough."

Draco looked down at his extended hand for a moment and then reached out and shook it. Once again, he had to wonder what the world was coming to that Draco Malfoy was standing there shaking hands with Neville Longbottom of all people while they were both on a mission with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Everything had been turned upside down.

"Okay, let's get going," Granger said, pulling them all back to earth. "Malfoy needs to talk to Snape," she explained for Longbottom's benefit. "We'll explain on the way, but we think Snape may not actually be a Death Eater."

"I don't know about that, Hermione," Longbottom said, opening the portrait so they could all step inside. "Snape has sure been running Hogwarts like a Death Eater."

"Look, we didn't say he's not a slimy evil git," Potter said, and Draco almost chuckled. "But he did something to help us out, and we need to get to the bottom of it. And while Malfoy is talking to him, Hermione and I have something to look for."

"What?" Longbottom asked, looking back at them as they all started in a low, narrow tunnel. 

"It's a long story," Potter said, and they all followed the light of Neville's wand back to Hogwarts.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please remember to rate and leave kudos if you are enjoying this. I have been getting lots of comments, and they make my day!
> 
> B


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thursday! We are so close to the weekend! Enjoy. :)
> 
> B

When they finally came out of long long, narrow tunnel, it took Draco's eyes a moment to adjust to the light in the room they emerged into. The light wasn't bright, but more cozy, and he realized after a minute that the light was all coming from a few fireplaces and soft lamps. He puzzled. He had never seen this room before. It was full of hammocks and different hangings for the different houses; Slytherin was notably absent. Draco frowned slightly. After he'd run his eyes over the room a few times, he concluded he had definitely never seen this place. 

"Where are we?" Potter asked, sparing Draco from having to do so.

"Room of Requirement," Longbottom said. "I was running from the Carrows one day, and it just appeared. First it was just for me, but then, well - everyone joined in." As he said this, they saw heads appearing out of each hammock, and when people caught sight of Potter and Granger, they came running toward them.

"The Carrows?" Potter asked Longbottom, his voice hard to make out in the din of the reunion. Everyone was screaming Potter and Grangers' names and wringing their hands, giving them hugs. Draco might as well have been wearing Potter's invisibility cloak, that is until he decided to answer Potter's question.

"They're Death Eaters," Draco said suddenly. "Brother and sister."

Finally someone said, "What the bloody hell is Malfoy doing here?" Draco's eyes narrowed. It was Seamus Finnigan.

"He's on our side now," Granger said, and Draco stood up a little taller. He looked around at all the distrusting faces around him as if daring them to voice their thoughts aloud.

Finnigan obliged. "Not likely," he said with a scoff. 

"Seamus, do you think I take it lightly who I allow around me and the Order?" Potter said, his gaze narrowing. "Clearly I must have a good reason for trusting that Malfoy is on our side now."

"Oh yeah?" Finnigan challenged. "And what might that be?"

"He killed one of You-Know-Who's top followers and saved all of our lives," Granger said, her voice back to that fierce tone Draco was learning to recognize as protective. It was still odd to hear that tone applied to himself, but he wasn't complaining. 

There was silence.

"Er, yeah, all right, that sounds like a pretty decent reason to believe him," Finnigan conceded.

"Who did he kill?" Lavender Brown asked. 

It was Longbottom who answered. "Bellatrix Lestrange," he said with a twisted grin. There were several triumphant cheers. Draco shifted, slightly uncomfortable, but didn't say anything.

"Right, well Malfoy has a mission of his own here tonight," Potter said. He pulled his invisibility cloak out of his pocket and handed it over to Draco, who took it feeling full of wonder. He'd wanted to get a good look at this cloak for years. He wasn't sure how it could be. Even the best, most expensive invisibility cloaks faltered eventually. The spells always wore off. How had Potter's lasted so long? From the rumors he'd heard, it was his father's before it was his. How had it lasted two generations? 

He set that aside and turned back to Potter. "And you have your mission," he said lowly, nodding to Potter and Granger. "Good luck." 

He turned and walked toward the door of the Room of Requirement, choosing not to look back as he felt many pairs of eyes following him out. He knew as soon as he closed the door behind him, chatter would burst out again, lots of it about him, but he found he didn't care as he played back Granger defending him.

* * *

Walking through the school invisible was very freeing, Draco thought. He found himself at the entrance to the Headmaster's office in only ten minutes, and no one, not even Peeves, had bothered him the whole way. He had spotted the Carrows, apparently acting as nighttime security guards, but he had skirted past them. As he stared at the stone gargoyle outside of the Headmaster's office, he realized he had no idea how to get inside. Still invisible, he walked up to the gargoyle and whispered, "I need to see the Headmaster. It's urgent."

"Password?" the gargoyle asked, apparently unperturbed that its late-night visitor was invisible.

"I don't know the password," Draco whispered. "But I need to see the Headmaster. It's urgent."

The gargoyle paused as if considering him. He wondered if it was somehow communicating with Snape. After a few beats of silence, it said, "Draco Malfoy?"

Startled, Draco said, "Y-yes."

"Very well," it said, and the wall behind the gargoyle revealed a staircase revolving into existence. Draco stepped foot on the staircase, and it continued revolving, carrying him up to the door with the griffin knocker. He knocked twice, and the door was flung open by Severus Snape.

"Draco?" Snape asked, and then Draco realized he was still under the invisibility cloak. He pulled it off, and Snape's black eyes widened slightly. "What are you doing here?" he asked sharply. "Get in." He pulled Draco roughly in by his arm and slammed the door behind him, muttering a locking charm as he did.

Snape crossed the room to the desk, and Draco followed him, sliding into the chair meant for a visitor. Snape, meanwhile, slid into the chair that had been Dumbledore's. Draco frowned. He had watched Snape kill Dumbledore. He couldn't be on the Order's side if he killed their leader. Speaking of Dumbledore, there was a portrait directly behind Snape of a snoozing Dumbledore. Draco imagined it must pain Snape to stare at that portrait every day. Did it always sleep?

His thoughts were interrupted by Snape saying, "Well?" sharply.

"I needed to talk to you," Draco said, realizing he sounded stupid.

"Obviously," Snape snapped. "About what? What are you thinking coming into Hogwarts? There is possibly nowhere more dangerous for you now, after what you did."

Draco scrutinized Snape's face to see if he looked disappointed in him for defecting, but he couldn't gather anything from the features. As usual, Snape's face was a mask of cool. "I had help," he said. He paused. "Potter and Granger helped me."

"So have you joined the Order of the Phoenix now?" Snape said. His tone was almost mocking. "Do you fancy yourself a hero?"

Draco narrowed his eyes. "No, I don't fancy myself a hero, but yes, I've joined their side."

"I see," Snape said. "Then what could you possibly want to say to me, the man who murdered Albus Dumbledore?"

"I don't think you're really a Death Eater," Draco said, going out on a limb.

Snape's eyes narrowed. "Why would you think anything else?" he asked. "Again, I killed Dumbledore. I have been running this school under the Dark Lord's command."

"I know about the sword," he said, and he saw Snape's nostrils flare slightly. He knew what he'd said had caught Snape off-guard, which gave him some satisfaction. "I know you led Potter to that sword with your Patronus. What I don't know is why."

Snape was so still that Draco wasn't sure he was breathing, but Draco waited, knowing he would talk when he was ready. Finally, the Headmaster said, "You have no idea what you are getting into, Draco." His voice was quiet, almost a whisper, as though he was afraid someone was going to overhear them.

"Or maybe he does," a voice from behind Snape said. Draco jumped, surprised by the new voice, and he was even more startled to find it was Dumbledore who had said it. The portrait had awoken.

"Dumbledore..." Snape said in a threatening tone. 

"Severus," Dumbledore said, and Draco was reminded of Dumbledore's pleading voice on the Tower the night Snape had killed him. "I believe it may be time to come clean about our plan. You'll be more help to them if you do. You may be able to save them."

Draco was baffled. Why was the portrait of Dumbledore talking to Snape as though he was not speaking to his own murderer? Did the portrait not know what had happened to the real Dumbledore?

Snape sighed loudly. "Come here, Draco," he said, standing up and striding over to a cabinet, which he opened slowly. Inside was a shallow basin swirling with something white, something between liquid and gas. Draco was instantly curious at its contents, and he stepped forward to get a closer look. "It's a Pensieve," Snape said. "It contains memories that I have deposited inside of it." 

"I've heard of these," Draco said in awe, stepping forward. "They're incredibly rare and expensive."

Snape nodded. "It was Dumbledore's before it was mine." He paused. "I need to show you some memories because I doubt you'll believe me if I don't. Lean forward and touch the memories, and you'll sort of...fall in. I'll pull you out when it's done."

Draco was skeptical, but Snape had never done anything to hurt him, and something kept telling him that Snape wasn't really a Death Eater, especially now. Draco's gut told him he wasn't falling for a trap, so he did what Snape had told him to do.

Draco had no idea how long he was inside the Pensieve, inside Snape's memories. The memories flew from one to another seamlessly, leaving Draco almost breathless trying to keep up. He saw Snape as a boy, being beaten by his brute of a Muggle father. He saw him talking to a redheaded girl who he called Lily, and Draco realized with a jolt he must be looking at a child-version of Potter's mother. He saw Snape's face fall when Lily was sorted into Gryffindor and Snape went to Slytherin. He saw Snape's school years, bullied by Potter's father and his friends but still friends with Lily. Then he saw Snape ruin things by calling Lily a Mudblood, and Draco's stomach fell. He saw Snape befriend younger versions of people he knew became Death Eaters. Draco's brow furrowed as he saw Snape listening at a door to a raspy voice giving what sounded like a prophecy. The door burst open, and Snape scattered as Dumbledore yelled after him. He saw Snape and Dumbledore, meeting on a hill raging with wind, as Snape offered to do anything to save Lily's life. He had relayed the contents of the prophecy to the Dark Lord and was devastated to find the Dark Lord thought it was referring to the Potters' son. Draco's eyes were wide. He then saw several fast memories in a row of Potter in school, his various hi-jinks over the years: the Philosopher's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, Sirius Black. He saw Snape showing Dumbledore the Dark Mark on his own forearm, telling him it was getting stronger, that the Dark Lord was coming back. The scene shifted again, and Draco saw Dumbledore, slumping in a chair, his hand black. It had clearly been cursed. He remembered seeing Dumbledore's hand like this during his last year at Hogwarts. They were getting closer to present day. Draco's eyes widened as he listened to the exchange between the two men. Dumbledore only had a year to live, at most. He heard them arrange Dumbledore's death, arrange to have Snape be the one to kill him. After that memory, another one started, another one of Dumbledore and Snape talking, but Snape pulled Draco out of the memory abruptly.

"What was the last one?" Draco asked immediately.

"It's none of your concern," Snape said coolly, and when Draco raised his eyebrows, Snape added, "That one is for Potter, and I will show it to him in due course."

"How exactly were you planning on getting any of these memories to Potter when he thinks you're a murderer and won't speak to you?" Draco challenged him.

"I figured an opportunity would present itself," Snape said obscurely.

The two were silent for a moment when finally Draco said, "You were in love with Lily Potter." He didn't say it as a jibe or a taunt. He said it as a fact.

Snape didn't say anything back, and Draco took that as confirmation.

"You've been a double agent since before the Potters were killed, then?" Draco asked.

Snape's face was still as smooth as glass, betraying no emotion. He considered Draco's question and, finally, nodded slowly. 

"How in the hell are you alive?" Draco said, his tone both exasperated and genuinely amazed. The Dark Lord thought Snape was not only one of his followers but his most devoted follower, the one that had disposed of Albus Dumbledore for him. But Draco had just seen that was all fiction; Dumbledore had chosen the way he died. Snape wasn't a murderer after all. He had only followed Dumbledore's orders. Draco's head was spinning. This was more than he had expected in coming to the Headmaster's office tonight.

"I'm alive because I am probably the most accomplished Occlumens in a century," Snape said simply, as though this was no small feat.

"You have to tell the Order everything," Draco said. "You have to show Potter these memories."

"The boy is right, Severus," Portrait Dumbledore chimed in behind them.

Snape turned to face the portrait and said, "Are you sure, Albus? You told me before to wait until the last possible minute."

Dumbledore sighed, "Even the most brilliant of us are wrong from time to time." He chuckled. "Go with Draco, show Harry the memories. If you can get him to believe you, the rest of the Order will believe you too. You have done so well for so many years in your current role, but it's time for you to reveal your true allegiance."

Snape watched Portrait Dumbledore with an inscrutable expression. Draco thought Snape might actually be close to rolling his eyes. After a few moments, Snape said, "Very well then. I listened to your orders in life. I suppose I might as well keep doing the same thing in death." He strode across the room to the Pensieve and waved his wand, magically shrinking it, and he placed it inside a pocket in his robes.

"You'll have to take me to Potter," Snape said, his voice as monotone as ever. "I never thought I'd see the day I'd be appealing to him for approval."

"Welcome to my world, sir," Draco said. "Welcome to my world."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to review and/or leave kudos if you are enjoying the fic! I love reading all your comments.
> 
> B


	10. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy, happy Friday. Enjoy today's post! I will try to post over the weekend but may take a break like last weekend!
> 
> B

Draco had told Snape to wait on the sixth floor so that he could go up and explain things to Potter before barging into the Room of Requirement, full of students in hiding, with the Headmaster they all thought was evil. He wasn't going to tell Potter the whole story, because he wanted him to see the memories himself, but he was going to tell him enough to get him to listen to Snape at least. Potter might not fully trust Draco yet, but he at least didn't fully distrust him either. That was something, and it was a hell of a lot more than Snape could say for himself at the moment.

When he got to the seventh floor, he found it crowded with people and furrowed his brow in confusion. Everyone who had been hiding out in the Room of Requirement was now standing in the corridor outside of the Room, and they were keeping relatively quiet while doing so, clearly not wanting to attract the attention of the Carrows or Snape. 

Draco saw Finnigan and approached him. "Finnigan," he said, tapping him lightly on the back.

Finnigan whipped around and looked at Draco before saying, "What do you want?" coolly.

"Where is Potter?" Draco asked, ignoring Finnigan's attitude.

"He's inside the Room," Finnigan said, nodding his head toward the blank stretch of wall. "He left us in there for a while, and then he came running up like he'd just run a marathon and said he needed us to get out so he could use the Room." Finnigan shrugged. "Who knows how his mind works?"

Draco almost chuckled, but he was too curious about what Potter was up to inside of the room. Just then, noise coming up the staircase distracted him, causing him to turn and point his wand in the direction of the sound. It sounded like clattering.

After a few moments, Granger appeared at the top of the stairs, and she had something weird strung around her neck. If Draco wasn't mistaken, they looked like giant fangs...

"l've just been...to the Chamber...of Secrets," Granger said in hushed tones, breathing heavily. Clearly she had run the whole way back. 

"What the hell did you go to the Chamber of Secrets for?" Longbottom asked, appearing suddenly at Draco's side. 

"Er," Granger said, and she locked eyes with Draco. He knew about the horcruxes, but he also knew they couldn't risk telling this entire crowd of people about them. The more people that knew, the more likely it was the Dark Lord would find out they knew. 

"We need Basilisk venom for a potion we're working on back at Headquarters," Draco invented wildly. If anyone in this crowd was much of a potion-maker, they'd probably see through this lie, as he couldn't think of a single potion that would require basilisk venom. He thought it was a decent gamble to take, though, since the two best potion-makers he knew were himself and Granger.

"What's the potion for?" someone asked, and Draco looked around to see it was Cho Chang, Potter's ex-girlfriend.

"I don't even know," Granger chimed in. "The Order is keeping it really under wraps, but they just asked if we could get a basilisk fang or two when they found out we were coming to Hogwarts tonight. It's not exactly easy to come by, and most of the Order members are totally underground. They can't walk into a shop, even if a shop  _did_ have such a rare ingredient."

Draco was impressed. He didn't know Granger could lie so well. She sounded just like her normal know-it-all self. If he wasn't in on the lie, he thought, he would have bought it.

Saving them from needing to discuss things further, a door suddenly appeared, letting Potter out of the Room of Requirement. "Sorry, bad lead," he said to the crowd. They all groaned, and Potter said, "You guys can go back in." Grumbling slightly, the crowd began to make its way back into the Room of Requirement after Neville walked past the door three times to create the room of hammocks again.

Once everyone was back inside, and it was only Potter, Granger, and Draco out in the corridor, Potter whispered, "I found it." He slipped something out from under his shirt, and Draco was astonished he hadn't noticed him hiding it before. He stepped forward to get a closer look, as did Granger. Potter appeared to be holding a dusty old tiara with some kind of engraving chiseled into the silver. It had a large sapphire in the middle, and the front of it was shaped like a raven.

"Ravenclaw's lost diadem," Granger breathed next to him. "This has been missing for centuries. How in the world did you find it?" 

"The same way You-Know-Who did," Potter said grimly. "By talking to the Grey Lady. She's the ghost of Helena Ravenclaw."

"Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter?" Draco asked quietly. Potter nodded, and Granger's eyes were wide.

"It's really beautiful," Granger said sadly, looking down at it. "It's a shame we have to destroy it to destroy the horcrux."

"Well, unfortunately Riddle had quite a habit of taking beautiful things and ruining them," Potter said, and Draco thought he had never heard Potter being quite so poetic. "Do you want to do the honors, Hermione?" he said after a moment. "You're the one that got the fangs. By the way, you'll have to walk me through how the hell you did that later..."

"I can't..." Granger said, her voice small. Draco felt a fleeting urge to put his arm around her to protect her from the horrible artifact in front of them. 

"She doesn't have to do it, Potter," Draco said, his voice edgy as he glanced over at Granger. 

Potter looked at Draco strangely, glancing back and forth between him and Granger, but Granger must have been too preoccupied with terror at the object in front of her to notice anything odd about Draco's words.

"Hermione, I really think you should," Potter said.

Granger looked up and met Potter's gaze, and something there must have strengthened her resolve. Her signature Gryffindor courage came rushing back into her face, and Draco could see it as clear as day. She lifted a basilisk fang from around her neck and swallowed hard. She nodded, indicating that Potter should place the diadem on the ground. He did so, and he and Draco both instinctively backed away. Granger stared at the diadem for several long moments, and Draco wondered if she felt the same pervasive cold coming over her that he did. It was almost like a Dementor was near and all the warmth in the world was being sucked away. He could also hear a faint ticking.

"Do it, Hermione," Potter said next to him, urging her on.

She glanced over at Potter, and then her gaze slide to Draco. Draco stared at her, his gray eyes wide with concern, and she stared back for a moment. He couldn't read what was going on behind her brown eyes, but something passed between them before she looked back down at the diadem and, with a yell, stabbed it with the basilisk fang in her right hand.

It was as though the diadem was dying. It screamed, and a horrible figure made of black smoke came out of it. Draco recognized it as the Dark Lord's face, recreated in smoke. The slits for nostrils, like that of a snake, the eyes - though he couldn't see their red color in the black smoke - were wild with anger. The figure flew through the air, straight at Granger, but she stood strong, not moving an inch. Draco didn't realize he was doing so, but he flung himself at Granger. By the time he reached her, the figure had disappeared, just in front of Granger's face, and Draco could see that her jaw was clenched and her eyes were angry, looking at where the figure had been.

Confused, she looked over at him. He was right next to her by the time she looked over. "What are you doing?" she asked him quizzically.

"I..." he said, trailing off. He glanced back at Potter, who was watching the scene with interest, and then turned back to Granger and said, "I don't know. I thought that thing was going to..."

"To hurt me?" she asked. "It was just smoke," she said. "I knew it would disappear if I stood my ground." She bent down and picked up the ruined diadem, turning it over in her hands. The fang had left a crack down the middle of the sapphire, but the words engraved on it were untarnished, and Draco noticed that now that it had been stabbed, it didn't look dusty anymore. It was like the diadem had come back to life. He read the words and almost smirked, despite himself.  _Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure._

"We should keep this," Granger said, and she took out a small beaded bag to put it inside. The diadem should never have fit in the bag, and Draco realized she had done an undetectable extension charm. He looked at her curiously, wondering why she would keep the tiara. "Not for myself!" she said defensively, as if he had asked her aloud. "Maybe someone can repair the sapphire when this war is over and we can give it back to Hogwarts." She paused. "Thanks for trying to help me," she said quietly. 

Draco's cheeks burned with embarrassment. This was the second time he had come to Granger's rescue. What was going on with him?

Interrupting Draco's embarrassment, Snape appeared at the top of the stairs. "What on earth is all the noise up here?" he asked in his drawling voice.

Both Potter and Granger turned toward Snape with their wands out in an instant, and now it wasn't Granger who Draco was trying to rescue. He closed his eyes and flung himself in front of Snape, hoping that would stop the other two from firing curses. After a few seconds had gone by and he realized he hadn't taken a curse for Snape, he opened his eyes.

"What are you doing, Malfoy?" Potter said coldly. 

"My hunch was right," Draco said slowly, putting his arms up. "Snape isn't a Death Eater."

"Prove it," Potter said, and Granger nodded quickly in agreement.

"We can," Draco said. He was surprised to notice that Snape didn't have his own wand out pointing at the two teenagers in front of him. Draco supposed Snape knew Potter and Granger would not take kindly to that, so he was giving up his only opportunity to defend himself if things went south.

"How?" Granger asked.

"The pensieve," Draco said, and a look of understanding came over both Potter and Granger as they glanced at each other for a few seconds, communicated something wordlessly between them, and nodded at each other. They both looked back at Draco and Snape and slowly lowered their wands, stowing them. 

"Go on, then," Potter said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to leave kudos and comments if you are enjoying this fic. I have been overwhelmed by the responses I have been getting so far. Love you guys!
> 
> B


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys had a lovely weekend! Enjoy your Monday post. :)
> 
> B

They'd gone into an unused classroom near the Room of Requirement, and without much fanfare, Snape had taken out the Pensieve, restored it to its normal size, and then gestured for Potter and Granger to have a look. They'd exchanged glances and then nodded, leaning forward until they fell into the Pensieve just as Draco had done not long before.

In reality, it only took a couple of minutes for them to review the memories, Draco found as he stood outside of the Pensieve. It wasn't long before Snape reached inside and pulled them each out by their arms. They both lost their balance and fell onto the classroom floor.

"Harry..." Granger said, reaching her hand out toward her best friend. "Harry, did that...what did that last bit mean?"

"It meant exactly what Dumbledore said, Miss Granger," Snape said, his tone flat. "Potter will have to die at the Dark Lord's hand to end this war."

"WHAT?" Draco said loudly. "I didn't see that."

"No, that was the last memory that I told you was only for Mr. Potter," Snape said. "Dumbledore told me I had to relay that information directly to him. I figured Miss Granger would be allowed to know as well. I know it's not easy to hear, but..."

"Not easy to hear?" Potter said, his voice low. "I have to walk to my death once all this is said and done. How can anyone--how can Dumbledore have expected me to do that?"

"Because it is what must be done to save everyone else," Snape said simply. 

Potter and Snape stared at each other. There was the old hatred on both of their faces, but there was also something like a mutual understanding. Granger was crying silently behind Potter, but, very uncharacteristically, she didn't say anything. Finally, Potter said, "Dumbledore asked you to kill him."

Snape took a sharp intake of breath, and then he nodded slowly. 

"Why didn't you tell us?" 

"Dumbledore told me not to tell anyone," Snape said. "He wanted the Dark Lord to truly believe I was on his side. I couldn't risk that for anything."

"So why tell us now?" Granger said, finally seeming to find her voice again.

"Dumbledore told me to," Snape said, and when he saw Potter and Granger looking at him in confusion he added, "I should say his portrait told me to."

Potter's eyes were narrowed. He was looking at Snape as if trying to detect deception, and Draco found himself idly thinking that if the Dark Lord had never figured out Snape's deception, it was pretty unlikely Potter ever would. He was surprised Potter hadn't asked about Snape's long friendship and obvious feelings for Potter's mother, but apparently he did not want to discuss that because he never brought it up. Finally he said, "The memories aren't tampered with. I can tell." He paused, looking over at Granger. "I think he's shown us the truth."

"What do we do about it, though?" Granger said. "Do we take him back with us to the Order?"

"No," Snape said, and they both looked up at him quizzically. "No, I am going to continue playing double agent. You three will not tell the Order what you have found out here tonight. It's too risky in case any of them are captured."

"But then what was the point of it all?" Draco asked. "What difference does it make?"

"I can help you - and the Order - from afar," Snape said. "I know about the horcruxes, and I think I know where the cup might be."

Potter's eyes were wide at Snape's words, and Draco could understand why. Potter must realize if Dumbledore had gone as far as telling Snape about the horcruxes, he really must have trusted him, and all of this wasn't a farce. "Where is it?" Potter asked. "If we can destroy that cup, it's only the snake left." Then, realizing what he had just seen in the Pensieve, he added, "And me."

Granger looked like she might start crying again, and Draco wanted to hold her. He told himself he just pitied her. Potter was her best friend in the world, and she had just found out he was fated to die. The news even shook Draco, and to say that Draco and Potter were friends was quite a stretch.

But Snape continued, his tone as flat as ever, "Based on what I heard happened at Malfoy Manor," he said with a glance at Draco, "I think it might be in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault."

It was Draco who asked, "Why do you think that?"

"Because," Snape drawled, "Bellatrix seemed awfully upset when she thought Potter had somehow stolen the Sword of Gryffindor from her vault, did she not? That's what I heard. At first, I thought it was just Bellatrix being stingy with her possessions, as she's been known to be, but when I heard she actually tortured Miss Granger to try to get more information, that struck me as odd. There is only one person in the world Bellatrix valued above herself, and that is the Dark Lord. When I heard how frantic she was and how desperate she was to get information out of Miss Granger...it struck me that she was afraid the Dark Lord's prized possession might have been stolen as well." He paused. "I don't think she knew it was a horcrux. The Dark Lord wouldn't have trusted her, or anyone, with that information. I am sure he just told her to keep it safe, and that was enough for her."

Draco's heart was beating fast. He was sure Snape was right, and Potter and Granger looked like they thought so too.

"How in the hell are we going to get inside her vault at Gringotts?" Potter said after a few moments. 

"Well, there is some good news there," Snape said. "Since Draco killed Bellatrix, she was never able to alert Gringotts or put additional security on her vault."

"It's still Gringotts!" Granger said, her voice high. "No one can steal from Gringotts!"

"Probably not," Snape said, and then he looked around at all three of them in turn. "Except for, maybe, a goblin..."

Comprehension dawned on all three of them at once. Snape must have heard they had a goblin with them at Malfoy Manor. They all breathed one word: "Griphook."

"I trust you didn't send the goblin away?" Snape said, raising an eyebrow.

Potter shook his head. "Something kept telling me to keep him, and Ollivander. Mrs. Weasley wanted to send them to Shell Cottage, where they would be more comfortable, but I just kept saying we needed to keep them longer. It's like I knew subconsciously or something." He frowned.

"Ollivander could prove useful too," Snape said. "Question him about the Dark Lord's interest in wands. He was held captive for months at Malfoy Manor because the Dark Lord was interested in wandlore, but he didn't talk to any of us about it, except to say that he couldn't use his own wand against Potter's." He paused. "I would assume he is in search of a more powerful wand, but I don't know any specifics."

Granger's face lit up all of a sudden, the way Draco remembered it doing in class when she knew an answer. "Professor," she said suddenly, "Do you know anything about the Elder Wand?"

"The Elder Wand?" Snape said, his brows furrowed. "It's a wand of legend, but I don't know how much basis in fact it has."

"Xenophilius Lovegood told us something shortly before we were captured and sent to Malfoy Manor about something called the Deathly Hallows," she said, watching Snape's face for recognition. There was none. "It comes from the Tale of the Three Brothers. Mr. Lovegood seemed to think the wand, the cloak, and the resurrection stone were real things and that possessing all three could make one the Master of Death." Draco thought it all sounded quite far-fetched. He, of course, knew the story of the Three Brothers, having grown up with those tales, but he didn't think there was a chance in hell that it was true. He was surprised Granger, usually so logical, was buying into something like this. She seemed to realize she sounded crazy because she quickly added, "I thought Mr. Lovegood was talking nonsense at first. I mean, it wouldn't be very out of character, would it? But  _if_ the Elder Wand was real, it might mean that the other two Hallows could be as well. I assume you know about Harry's cloak?"

"Hermione!" Potter said, as though she had somehow betrayed him. Draco rolled his eyes. That invisibility cloak was no secret.

Ignoring Potter, Snape said, "Yes, of course I know about that cloak. It's the main reason I was scarcely ever able to give Potter detention all those times I knew he was out of bed."

This time, Granger rolled her eyes. Draco could have had a heart attack seeing Hermione Granger roll her eyes at a professor, but before he could dwell on it too long, she said, "Yes, well, we noticed when Mr. Lovegood described the cloak in the story that Harry's matched his description. It never changed or weakened over time, and it had been passed down for generations."

Snape stared at Granger, but he said, "Honestly Miss Granger, I think we have plenty to be getting on with without dallying in fairytales as well..."

"I think she's right," Potter said. "I think she's right, but I don't think You-Know-Who knows about the Hallows. I think he only knows about the wand." Potter paused, as if working out a puzzle in his head. He even closed his eyes briefly. Finally he said, "The thief. Hermione, the thief I saw in You-Know-Who's head. It was Grindelwald." 

Granger gasped. "But...but You-Know-Who killed Grindelwald a few weeks ago! Aberforth just told us that!"

"Care to fill us in?" Snape said in a bored tone, and Draco was glad he didn't have to ask. Potter told them quickly about a time he had accidentally entered the Dark Lord's mind and seen a thief in Gregorovitch's window. 

"I couldn't see what he'd stolen, or I didn't  _think_ I could because all he was holding was a wand. The Elder Wand," Potter said. His eyes were wide with excitement, and Draco knew he was riding a high from solving something that he had been wondering about for months. 

"How did you find out the thief was Grindelwald?" Snape asked smoothly.

"I didn't realize it until just now. I was just thinking back and realized that I had seen his picture in that book." He looked over at Granger. "Skeeter's book about Dumbledore. Dumbledore and Grindelwald were friends when they were our age."

"That must be how the Dark Lord found out who it was too," Snape said thoughtfully. "He had mentioned he was in search of a thief, but I had no idea who he was talking about. He had so many people he wanted dead, sometimes it was hard to keep up. I figured someone had stolen something from one of his followers or something like that. He never mentioned that the thief had to do with a wand he wanted." His black eyes were darting around wildly, as if the unused classroom they were in would hold more answers.

"But, sir..." Granger said, and her eyes were wide with whatever she was about to say. "Sir, didn't Dumbledore defeat Grindelwald in their duel in 1945?"

"Of course he did," Snape said. And then his eyes widened as well. 

"Dumbledore had the Elder Wand," Snape and Granger said at the same time.

Draco and Potter gaped back at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't forget to review and leave kudos if you are enjoying the fic. I have so loved reading all the comments so far!
> 
> B


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am loving all of the responses I am getting to this fic, and I am having SO much fun writing it. Enjoy your Tuesday update!
> 
> B

"We have to get that wand, immediately," Snape said urgently, turning wildly to the door. "The Dark Lord will know soon if he doesn't already."

"He hasn't figured it out yet," Potter said. "I just remembered something I had seen in his mind a few weeks ago, but I didn't know it was Grindelwald talking at the time." He paused, remembering. "I saw an old man saying, 'I never had it. You must know I never had it.' Grindelwald tried to make him think he never had the wand in the first place."

Granger's jaw had dropped. "Grindelwald spent his last words trying to protect Dumbledore...or, I guess Dumbledore's body?" She looked confused. 

"They were friends when they were younger," Potter said with a shrug. "Maybe he felt some remorse later in life. Who knows?"

"Even so," Snape interrupted. "We can't risk leaving it where it is and having the Dark Lord find out Grindelwald was lying. We have to go get it."

"Where is it?" Draco asked, halfway sensing he didn't want to know the answer.

"Dumbledore's tomb," Snape said with a slight grimace.

Granger was aghast. "You want to break into Dumbledore's tomb?" she asked, looking a little queasy.

"What other option is there, Hermione?" Potter asked, his voice surprisingly rough. "Do we just sit back and wait for You-Know-Who to get the Elder Wand? We won't have a chance in hell at beating him then. I know we've figured out I have to die, but it doesn't have to be that way for the rest of you if we can kill him. We won't be able to do that if he has an unbeatable wand." Potter's face was red with anger. Draco had never seen him looking so unhinged.

"Harry, I..." Granger said, but she trailed off, her voice choking up. 

"We have to do it now," Potter said, turning to Snape. "Right?"

Snape nodded curtly. It was beyond bizarre to see Potter and Snape agreeing about anything. Snape said, "Potter, put on that cloak. You two, come here." He gestured at Draco and Granger to come over, which they did. Granger wiped away a tear impatiently. "I'm going to put disallusionment charms on you," Snape said. "As we only have one cloak." He waved his wand, and Draco felt a sensation like an egg being cracked over his head. When he looked down, he was surprised to find that his body now blended in perfectly with their surroundings.

Without another word, Snape opened the classroom door and walked out, his cloak sweeping behind him as batlike as ever. Invisible to everyone else, Draco, Granger, and Potter all followed him, walking as quietly as possible while also trying to keep up with Snape's quick stride. They went down a few floors uninterrupted, but when they hit the third floor, Draco quietly took in a breath as he saw a stocky little witch he knew to be Alecto Carrow.

"Alecto," Snape said smoothly. "Doing your rounds, I suppose?"

"Yes, Headmaster," Alecto said, the last word dripping with sarcasm. Draco assumed she probably didn't like having to refer to her fellow Death Eater as though he was her boss in some way. The Death Eaters only really recognized one boss, and that was the Dark Lord.

"Anything unusual?" Snape asked, raising an eyebrow. 

She shook her head. "Quiet night now that all those little brats have disappeared," she said. "I still wish we could figure out how their parents have managed to pull them out of school without us knowing."

"I know," Snape said, and his voice was filled with malice, nothing short of totally convincing. "If I ever find out, I will report the lot of them to the Dark Lord and let him handle them. He wanted every child in Britain under the roof of this castle." He paused, as though overcome with his frustration - again, very convincing, Draco thought - and then said, "I have to be getting back to my office. I have some owls I need to answer. Do let me know if you find anything suspicious."

Alecto nodded curtly and continued walking, and Snape, Draco, Potter, and Granger all headed off the opposite direction. After a few minutes, they came onto the ground floor into the Entrance Hall. Snape looked around furtively and then waved his wand, which opened the front doors to the castle in total silence. Before they stepped outside, he tapped his wand on his own head, just as he had with Draco and Granger, and he too disappeared from sight. They all knew where Dumbledore's tomb was, so they headed that way, walking in silence along the grassy lawn.

When they finally reached the white tomb, no one said anything at first. Snape waved his wand, and Draco and Granger became visible again. Potter removed his cloak. They were far enough away from the school that they didn't really need to be invisible.

Draco's mind immediately started playing back the night Dumbledore had died, how Draco himself had thought he would be the one to kill him. He was so glad now that he hadn't been and realized with a jolt that Snape and Dumbledore had both known he would not be the one who would ultimately do the deed, since both Snape and Dumbledore had planned otherwise. All Draco had been able to do was disarm the old man, and that was probably only because Dumbledore had let him.

"This won't be pretty," Snape said. His voice was flat as ever, but Draco thought he almost sensed an apologetic tone behind his words. He slashed his wand through the air, and with a loud  _crack_ , not unlike the sound of somone apparating, the white marble opened and fell, and they were stood facing the body of Albus Dumbledore, perfectly preserved. There, clasped between his hands, was the wand. 

Draco felt a strange warmth in his wand hand all of a sudden, a strange urge to reach out and take the wand. When he saw Snape step forward toward the tomb, he felt a violent urge to push him away, as though the wand was his.

_As though the wand was his..._

"Snape," he hissed suddenly. "Snape, hang on." 

"What is it?" Snape asked, looking around as though someone had caught them.

"I disarmed Dumbledore," Draco said suddenly, feeling dazed as he said it. "You didn't disarm him."

Snape stared at Draco blankly for a few moments, and then his eyes widened by a fraction. "Of course..." he whispered.

"What?" Potter and Granger asked at the same time.

"When Dumbledore asked me to be the one to kill him, I assumed it was mostly to spare Draco's soul," Snape said, clearly lost in his own musings. "I'm sure that was most if it," he said, almost impatiently, "but I see now there were still secrets he didn't let me in on." He paused. "He wanted me to be the master of the Elder Wand, but he didn't want me to know I was. He wanted someone to possess it but not know the power they possessed so that the power might die with them. But he never counted on Draco being the one to disarm him..." He trailed off, looking at Dumbledore's still body. 

"Wait a second, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Potter asked. "Are you saying..."

"I'm the master of the Elder Wand," Draco said, his voice sounding oddly hollow. How had this happened? He didn't want to be the master of that bloody wand! He already had a price over his head. He didn't need the Dark Lord also searching for a wand that had allegiance to him.

"Shit," Snape whispered, and all three of them looked at him in shock. They'd never heard Snape swear. 

"Look, maybe we should discuss this later," Granger suggested, looking back toward the castle nervously. "I think Malfoy should be the one to take the wand now, and we can figure out what to do when we aren't out in the open. It's not safe here, and we have to be getting back to Headquarters. It'll be daybreak soon, and no one knows we left."

Draco's stomach flipped nervously. He didn't want the Order to think him even more untrustworthy than they already did, and if they woke up to find Draco and two of their golden trio gone, he knew they'd all assume the worst, especially Weasley. "Granger's right," Draco said. "We need to hurry."

"Of course you'd say that," Potter said, his tone full of suspicion. "She said you should take the wand!"

Draco narrowed his eyes. "I don't want that fucking wand, Potter," he said, facing Potter. Draco was a couple of inches taller than Potter, so he was looking down on him. "Don't you think I probably already feel hunted enough without having to take a wand I actually  _know_ the Dark Lord is looking for? Do you think I have a death wish or something?"

Potter stared up at him, his green eyes narrowed and furious. "I don't know that you can be trusted with that wand, Malfoy."

"What other choice do you have?" Draco asked. "The wand, for now, belongs to me. We can figure out what to do with it once we are safely back at Headquarters."

"How do I know you won't run off with the wand and take it back to You-Know-Who? He might forgive you for deserting him if you brought him the wand he's been looking for," Potter challenged.

"Nothing could make the Dark Lord forgive what Draco has done," Snape cut in. "He doesn't forgive deserters. He would take the wand and kill Draco, and Draco, having grown up in a household who followed the Dark Lord, knows that all too well."

Draco's throat felt tight as he thought about his dead parents. He knew nothing could ever make him go back to the Dark Lord, but he didn't know how to make Potter believe him. All he could do was try to be as honest as possible with Potter and hope that would work. "Potter, he killed my parents," Draco said, his voice somewhat strained and desperate. "You know exactly what that's like. Just like you could never go over to his side after he killed your parents, neither could I." 

Potter still stared up at him with furious eyes for a few moments, and then something in his gaze softened, though he didn't back down from his stance. He studied Draco as though trying to figure him out, and Draco tried not to look like he was hiding anything. He really wasn't. Everything was on the table and had been since he joined them. He just needed Potter to trust him now.

Finally, Potter said, "Fine." Behind him, Granger breathed a sigh of relief. Draco hadn't realized she had been watching fearfully behind Potter, but he realized now that she must have been nervous, having been the one to suggest that Draco pick up the wand.

Draco turned toward the tomb again, and, with a deep breath, took a couple of steps forward until he was standing directly above Dumbledore's body, looking down at that ancient lined face. With a hard swallow, he reached down and pulled the wand out, managing not to touch Dumbledore in the process. As soon as the wand was in his wand hand, Draco felt a warmth spread throughout him. It felt perfect in his hand, as though it had been made just for him.

"Time to go," Potter said. "We'll just walk out of the grounds until we hit the apparition point," he told Snape. "I'm assuming the Caterwauler charm doesn't take effect until you actually get to Hogsmeade?"

Snape nodded. "Just walk out the gates and apparate immediately. Miss Granger, do you know how to do the disallusionment charms yourself?"

Not altogether surprisingly, Granger nodded, and she promptly tapped Draco's head and then her own with her wand. They faded into their surroundings, and Draco was, again, impressed by her skills, as he had been so many times in the past. He found, strangely enough, that he didn't begrudge her for it anymore. He mostly felt awed by her.

Potter slipped his invisibility cloak back on, and they all said, "Bye" in unison to Snape. Without a word, the Headmaster tapped his own head, and they heard his invisible footsteps heading back through the grass toward the castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to leave kudos and comments. I love them!
> 
> B


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! So sorry I missed updating yesterday. Work got busier than expected, and I only had a little bit of time at the end of the day. I didn't want to rush an update, so instead I waited until today! 
> 
> B

They arrived just outside of the protective enchantments of the Burrow and quickly strode forward, crossing the invisible line, into the garden. The horizon was turning faintly pink, and Draco thought he could probably sleep all day. He'd had enough revelations in the last few hours to last a lifetime, and he knew now there was a long, long road ahead of them, one that sounded like it was going to end in Potter's death. Strangely, the thought bothered Draco. He never thought he'd see the day when Harry Potter's life would mean a damn to him, but things had changed. Potter was the leader of the group, the one who everyone turned to for a final decision. Unconsciously, Draco had started to do the same thing in the last week and a half.

Had it really only been a week and a half since he had decided to kill his aunt? Had it really only been a couple of days since he found out his parents were dead? So much had been packed into the days that they all seemed weeks long. Draco shook his head in disbelief as he followed Granger and Potter to the back door of the Burrow. Before he turned the doorknob, Potter turned around unnecessarily and put a single finger over his lips to remind them to be quiet. Draco rolled his eyes. As if he wanted to be found out!

They entered into the kitchen and tiptoed as lightly as possible into the lounge. When they saw Griphook and Ollivander sleeping on the pull-out sofas, Draco could tell Potter was tempted to stop and speak to them now, but Granger shook her head, and the three of them kept moving toward the stairs. 

On the third floor, Granger stepped toward a bedroom door and waved silently to the boys. Draco found himself wishing she was coming upstairs with them, purely, he told himself, so that they could talk and process everything they'd found out. Of course she needed sleep...

Potter and Draco continued to the top floor, finally reaching the sign that read "Ronald's Room." Potter turned the doorknob quietly, and they entered, each crossing the room as quietly as they could. Potter got into the twin bed that belonged to him, and Draco quietly tucked himself back into his cot. He thought he heard one of the other boys turn over in their beds, so he froze, but when he looked around, they all appeared to still be sleeping.

Draco pulled the Elder Wand out of his pocket and placed it on the floor under his cot. As soon as it was away from him, he felt a strange urge to reach out and grab it again, as though he constantly needed to touch it, but he resisted and closed his eyes. Despite the fact that his brain was spinning with all of the new information, it didn't take long for him to drift off to sleep. Outside, the sun was on its way up, and downstairs, Mrs. Weasley would soon be awake and starting breakfast.

Thankfully, no one bothered Draco for quite a long time. By the time he woke up, the sun was well and truly up and the bedroom was empty. He felt vaguely embarrassed that he had slept in longer than everyone else, even Potter who had been out just as late as him, but he was glad he had gotten some sleep. The last few days had left him exhausted in more ways than one.

He quickly changed, grabbed the Elder Wand and stowed it in his pocket, and then went downstairs to see what everyone else was up to. When he walked into the lounge, it was to find Potter, Weasley, and Granger having an apparently heated, albeit whispered, discussion.

"And here he is now," Weasley said angrily, pointing at Draco. Draco's brow furrowed in confusion. "Here's your new best friend, Harry."

"Ron, don't be ridiculous," Granger said.

"Oh of course, of course I'm the one being ridiculous," Weasley said. His ears were red. "You two sneak out in the middle of the night on a secret mission with Draco Malfoy, leaving me here, but naturally  _I_ am the one being ridiculous."

"To be fair, I didn't know Hermione was going to come along," Potter said.

Weasley grunted. "Yes, that makes it so much better. You decided to ditch both Hermione and me so that you and Malfoy could go gallivanting off doing whatever the hell it was you were up to. What - did you not think you could trust me to come along?"

"Ron, obviously that's not it," Potter said impatiently. "I've told you, Malfoy and I decided to do it alone because he needed to talk to Snape and sneaking a whole host of people into the castle would have been tantamount to suicide!"

"I don't think including me would have made it a 'whole host of people.'" Weasley shot back. "You managed to include Hermione."

"I didn't leave them any choice, Ron!" Granger hissed. "I overheard them and cornered them."

"And you couldn't have clued me in that you overheard them?" Weasley said. "If you would have told me, I could have waited downstairs with you."

"They would have noticed you missing from their room!" Granger said.

Weasley didn't seem to have an answer for that, but still he insisted, "I don't give a damn. Both of you should have told me, but apparently I've been...replaced." He looked dramatically over at Draco, who couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Honestly, Weasley," Draco said, his tone scathing. "If you think they'd rather work with me instead of you, you truly are as thick as I've always said. They worked with me because they  _had_ to, because I'm the one who knows Snape and could get him to talk to me."

Draco tried not to be hurt that Potter and Granger didn't interject and say that they were glad to have worked with him. 

"I don't need you butting into this conversation," Weasley said. "You've done enough."

"Like saving all of your lives?" Draco retorted.

Weasley's cheeks now turned red enough to match his hair and his ears. "Did you just do that so you could hold it over our heads?" he asked.

"I don't know why I did it," Draco said, glancing over at Granger for a split second before looking back at Weasley, "But I sure as hell know I didn't do it to listen to you whinging because you were left out of one thing."

Ron's jaw dropped, and Draco knew he would love nothing more than to cross the room and punch Draco in the face, as was evidenced by the fact that both of his hands were clenched into fists. He took a deep breath and looked over at Granger, and something there seemed to stop him from attacking Draco. Draco thought it might be because he knew Granger would be very angry if Weasley resorted to physical violence, especially against someone who was now part of their group, but he couldn't be sure. He wasn't really sure what was going on between Weasley and Granger, in all honesty, and he tried not to think about it because the thought made him sick.

Of course, he told himself, it only made him sick to think of anyone being romantically interested in someone like Weasley. There was no other explanation.

"Are you going to bother telling me what happened last night then?" Weasley finally asked, looking at Potter and Granger and pointedly looking away from Draco.

Potter glanced quickly at Draco, which Draco figured probably enraged Weasley, but Draco could understand why he'd done it. Snape had told them not to tell anyone the truth about him. He didn't want the Order to find out. Still, when Potter looked back at Weasley, he took a deep breath and seemed to make a decision, "Snape isn't a Death Eater," he said, "which we can't tell anyone at all. Oh, and we destroyed a horcrux."

"WHAT?!" Weasley screamed, and Potter immediately made a shushing noise.

"Shut up, Ron," he begged. "I don't need anyone coming in here and asking any questions." He paused and then launched into a detailed account of what had happened the night before. Weasley's reactions varied from awed about the horcrux to openly suspicious about Snape, and when Potter got to the end of the story, the bit about the Elder Wand belonging to Draco, Weasley put up his hand to stop Potter's recollections.

"You're telling me you actually let  _him_ take the Elder Wand?" he said, looking over at Draco as though he was scum. "Have both of you lost your bloody minds?"

"He's the master of the wand," Potter said, still eyeing Draco as though he also didn't like the idea of Draco having the wand. "It made the most sense for him to take the wand because it will have allegiance to him."

"It's a wand," Weasley said, rolling his eyes. "Anyone can pick it up and use it. You're talking like it has a mind of its own."

"Snape knew it was true too," Granger said. "He realized Draco would be the master of the wand. We need to talk to Ollivander to understand more, but although - yes - anyone could pick up the wand and use it, wands still  _do_ form allegiances, and this one has an allegiance to Malfoy."

"For now," Draco added. 

"What do you mean 'for now?'" Weasley asked, his eyes narrowed.

"I have no intention of keeping this wand," Draco said. "I want to figure out how to pass it off to someone else, preferably sooner rather than later." 

"Why?" Weasley asked, gaping at Draco.

"Why is everyone so surprised by this?" Draco said impatiently. "Why would I want another target on my back, another reason for the Dark Lord to want to hunt me down? He already wants me dead enough."

Weasley looked genuinely surprised. "I figured you'd be happy to have a bit of power," he admitted sheepishly.

Draco snorted. "All I want is to get out of this mess alive. If I do, it'll be a miracle."

"Who will you pass the wand off to?" Weasley asked, but it wasn't Draco who answered.

"Me," Potter said. Granger and Weasley both whipped their heads toward him.

"You?" Granger asked. "Why you?"

"Well," Potter said, "For one, there is no one in the world You-Know-Who wants dead more than me, so it won't do any harm in that regard for me to have the wand. Secondly, if I can find the bloody Resurrection Stone, and if we're right about the Deathly Hallows, I'll be the 'Master of Death' or whatever. I'd like to say maybe that would help me stay alive against You-Know-Who, but as we know, that isn't true."

"What do you mean?" Weasley asked, looking puzzled. 

"Yeah, that's the bit I sort of, er, left out of the story last night," Potter said, shifting guiltily. Anticipating what Potter was about to reveal, Granger's eyes promptly filled with tears again, and Draco lowered his eyes, almost like he didn't want to watch the scene unfold. "There was one other thing in Snape's memories last night. I, er, I have to die at You-Know-Who's hand for this all to end."

"WHAT?!" Weasley shouted for the second time. "What the bloody hell are you talking about? Of course you don't have to die!"

"I do," Potter said solemnly, as though he had already accepted his fate in the few hours since he learned about it. "When You-Know-Who tried to kill me the night he killed my parents, the last bit of his soul latched onto me because I was the only living thing in sight. I am the horcrux he never meant to create."

Weasley looked like he was going to be sick. Draco marveled at his lack of tact as he watched Weasley give Potter a look as though he was something dirty or tainted. Draco felt almost defensive of Potter. It wasn't his fault he had been made into a horcrux as a baby! He couldn't have done anything to prevent it.

"But...but there must be some other way," Weasley said finally, shaking his head. "There must be a way to destroy the horcrux without destroying you too."

Potter was already shaking his head. "No, Ron," he said. "Think about that locket or the diary. They were completely destroyed in the process of killing the horcrux."

"But...but Hermione said she thought the diadem might be able to be repaired!" Weasley said wildly. "She said it just had a crack down it. Maybe there is a way to destroy the horcrux in you without killing you too."

"Ron, the sooner we all accept that this is how it ends, the sooner we can move forward," Potter said. Draco grimaced. It was so macabre to talk about his own death as though it didn't even scare him or matter that much to him. "We have to break into Gringotts and steal that cup, and then we still have to figure out how to kill that bloody snake. It's going to take time, so it's not like I'll be dead tomorrow. But it's better for you to just start planning on me being gone. I intend to handle the business I have left before I go so that all of you will stand the best chance at defeating You-Know-Who for good once I've gone."

Granger was crying quietly, and in a moment of tenderness that shocked Draco, Weasley reached over and grabbed her hand, rubbing consoling circles into it. He didn't know Weasley had even an ounce of tact in him, so he was shocked, but more than that, Draco was disconcerted to find that watching Weasley's pale hand on Granger's skin infuriated him. What was the matter with him?

Before Draco could think on his fury too long, he saw Weasley's face harden, and the redhead nodded gruffly at Potter. "Fine, we move on then," he said. "How the hell are we going to break into Gringotts?"

"That," Potter said, "is a question for Griphook."

* * *

No one besides Weasley seemed to have figured out that Potter, Draco, and Granger had snuck out of the Burrow the night before because, thankfully, no one else questioned them. They knew they were going to need to tell the others that a horcrux had been destroyed, but they didn't want to tell anyone else about Snape, so Potter said they could tell everyone else when they got a chance about the horcrux. The priority had to be talking to both Ollivander and Griphook.

Potter decided to question them both separately, and Draco was shocked when he found out that Potter wanted him to be in on the interviews along with Weasley and Granger. Weasley didn't seem to be a huge fan of this idea, based on his evil looks in Draco's direction, but he didn't say anything. The one thing he seemed to hate more than Draco was the idea of falling out of favor with Potter. 

Mrs. Weasley had said they could use she and Mr. Weasley's bedroom to talk to Ollivander, so that's where the four of them walked up to meet the old man. Draco felt distinctly awkward stepping into Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's bedroom. It was a cozy room with a fireplace and a bed with a handmade quilt. Ollivander was sitting on the edge of the bed. Granger waved her wand, and four chairs appeared across from him, which she, Potter, Weasley, and Draco sat down in.

"So," Ollivander said casually. "What am I being interrogated about?"

"This isn't an interrogation, Mr. Ollivander," Potter said, his voice even. "I'm hoping you might have some information that can help us, and the Order, defeat You-Know-Who, but we aren't interrogating you. You haven't done anything wrong." Draco thought it was rather smart of Potter to start out right off the bat by saying they didn't think Ollivander was guilty of anything. He saw the old man's shoulders relax slightly.

"All right..." he said cautiously.

"I know You-Know-Who was having some trouble with his wand," Potter continued, "and I know that's why he brought you to Malfoy Manor." He paused, waiting to see if Ollivander would deny any of that. When he didn't, Potter continued, "I need to know what exactly he asked you and what exactly you told him."

Ollivander winced, clearly remembering painful memories from Malfoy Manor, and Draco grimaced. He knew the old man must not trust him at all, given that he had suffered in Draco's house for so many months. Still, after a moment, the man said, "The Dark Lord asked me why he could not attack you with his wand, and I admit I explained the connection between them, the phoenix feather cores." Draco knew this from meetings he'd been a part of, when the Dark Lord had taken his own father's wand. "When he tried to use another's wand to attack you and was still unsuccessful, I told him truthfully that I had no inkling of why this might have happened. I would have needed to see the wands in action to try to determine what had happened, but the Dark Lord seemed to be under the impression that your wand had acted of its own accord," he said, nodding to Potter.

"It did," Potter said firmly. "I knew I wasn't crazy. You-Know-Who saw it too. I thought I was done for, and my wand spun in my hand on its own and shot gold sparks at You-Know-Who. I don't even know a spell that shoots gold sparks."

"As to that, I have no clue," Ollivander said. "I have never heard of a wand behaving in such a way, but wands often decide to do things we wizards cannot understand." Draco furrowed his brow. Ollivander seemed a bit off his rocker, in all honesty. "In any event, when he was unsuccessful in attacking you with Lucius Malfoy's wand, the Dark Lord began his search for another wand."

"The Elder Wand," Potter said, and Ollivander nodded gravely.

"I told him the wand was the stuff of legends, at first," he said. "I thought if I could just make him think it was a ridiculous fantasy he might not go looking for it, he might decide it was a waste of his time. He didn't believe me, though." Again, Ollivander winced, and Draco thought he was probably remembering the Dark Lord entering his mind, invading his thoughts. "When he found out I was lying, I told him the truth: that many wandmakers had claimed over the years to possess the wand so that their buyers would think they were buying replicas of it. Most of these wandmakers were lying. One was not."

"Gregorovitch," Potter said.

"I'm impressed by how much you know of this business, Mr. Potter," Ollivander said. Potter did not clue Ollivander in on the fact that he was privy to some of the Dark Lord's thoughts but instead nodded, urging the wandmaker on in his tale. "I told him I believed Gregorovitch may have actually possessed the wand but that I had never seen it myself, which was true. I gather from things he said later that he hunted down Gregorovitch. That man may have been one of my main competitors, but I never would have wished that on my worst enemy." He looked as though he was seeing something far off, something not there. "I'm sure he killed him."

"He did," Potter said coldly. Draco gathered that Potter didn't think much of the fact that Ollivander had given up Gregorovitch's name in the first place, but he didn't say anything else.

"Ah," Ollivander said with a wince. "He told me Gregorovitch told him the wand had been stolen, and he asked me if I could think of any wandmakers who would have stolen it from him. I told him any prominent wandmaker would have been happy to examine the Elder Wand but that I hadn't heard of any specific rumors. He could tell I wasn't lying, and that was the last I heard of it...for a while."

"Then he came asking about Grindelwald?" Potter asked.

Ollivander's eyes widened, but he didn't say anything about Potter's extensive knowledge of events again. He nodded. "He asked me if I had ever met Grindelwald, if I knew if he had anything to do with the bloody history of the Elder Wand, and I told him I had no idea. I gathered from his general attitude toward Grindelwald that he believed he had been the one to steal the wand from Gregorovitch, and I have to say it filled in some gaps as to how Grindelwald rose to power all those years ago." He shook his head sadly. "Those were terrible times, dark. Almost as dark as these days." 

"Did he ask you anything else about Grindelwald?" Potter asked.

"No," Ollivander said. "I didn't see the Dark Lord again before I was rescued from Malfoy Manor by Mr. Malfoy's elf," he said, nodding his head slightly toward Draco. It was the only time he had acknowledged anyone else was in the room except for Potter. Ollivander paused for a moment and then added, "I think he was stymied by Grindelwald."

"Why do you think that?" Potter asked.

"I assumed if he had obtained the Elder Wand he would have brought it to me to examine, to verify it was the real thing," Ollivander said. "He didn't, and I took that to mean he must have either been mistaken about Grindelwald or it must have been a dead end."

"He wasn't mistaken," Potter said. "He just hasn't made a connection yet, one I'm sure he will make eventually."

"Ah, you mean the fact that if Grindelwald did indeed steal the wand from Gregorovitch that Grindelwald would not have been the Master of the Elder Wand at all?" Ollivander said, a strange twinkle in his eye. "That the Master of the Elder Wand would have, instead, been Albus Dumbledore?" They all gaped at him. "The Dark Lord never asked me anything about that directly, so I was able to keep that particular thought to myself. It wasn't a lie, exactly, you see. More of an omission." 

"I'm glad you omitted that, Mr. Ollivander," Potter said. "Because we were able to get the Elder Wand in time to stop You-Know-Who from finding it. What no one realized, until very recently, was that Dumbledore was disarmed shortly before his death by none other than Malfoy here."

Draco felt his face burn again, but he didn't say anything to the contrary.

"But that means..." Ollivander said, and he looked at Draco almost hungrily. "That means you are the Master of the Elder Wand, dear boy."

Draco glanced at Potter, who nodded to him, and then pulled the Elder Wand from his pocket. "I suppose so," he said with a shrug.

"May I?" Ollivander asked, and Draco saw Potter nod again. He handed over the wand to Ollivander, automatically feeling wrong without it on his person. Ollivander turned it over in his hands, looked at it from every possible angle, and actually even seemed to be murmuring to the wand. Draco once again thought the old man was off his rocker until he handed the wand back to him and said, "There's no doubt it's the right wand. That wand has been passed from hand to hand for hundreds of years, if not longer."

Draco marveled slightly at the history of the wand in his hand, and everyone's eyes were on it. After a few moments, Potter cleared his throat and said, "Last question: have you ever heard of the Deathly Hallows?"

Ollivander looked genuinely confused. "It doesn't ring a bell. Are we still talking about wandlore?"

Potter studied him for a few moments and seemed to decide his confusion was genuine. "No, not exactly. Thank you for your help, Mr. Ollivander. We'll let you know if we think of anything else."

"Indeed, Mr. Potter," the old man said. "Always pleased to help. I think I told you several years ago we could expect great things from you. I haven't been wrong yet."

"Er, right," Potter said, and they all stood up and made their way to the door. After Ollivander had made his way back down the stairs, Granger and Weasley both started to whisper at the same time, but Potter cut them off. "We can discuss all that later," he said. "Right now, we need to talk to Griphook."

As if on cue, the goblin appeared at the foot of the stairs and began to hobble his way up. Without being asked, he stepped into Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's bedroom. Potter, Granger, and Weasley all glanced at each other before going in, and with a deep breath, Draco followed them.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't forget to leave comments and kudos if you're enjoying the fic! I love reading them all.
> 
> B


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! I started this update on Friday and never got around to finishing it, but here is your Monday update. Enjoy! 
> 
> B

"Griphook, we need you to help us break into Gringotts," Potter said baldly.

The goblin's response was a nasty cackle as though Potter was trying to be funny. When he saw that none of the four people in the room were smiling, let alone laughing, his sharp-toothed grin fell into a straight line. "You can't be serious," he said. "I thought you were intelligent - for a wizard - Mr. Potter."

Potter smartly did not rise to Griphook's bait insinuating that wizards in general were not intelligent. Instead, he said, "Unfortunately I am serious. It's not for personal gain. It's for help defeating You-Know-Who."

"This is a wizard's war," Griphook said, his eyes narrowed. "I have no responsibility to help you win or lose."

"No, you don't," Potter said, "but you do owe us a debt, and I happen to know that goblins always pay their debts."

Griphook studied him, his face not hiding his distaste. "That we do, Mr. Potter. However, I don't owe _you_ a debt. The debt I owe is actually to Mr. Malfoy here. He is the one who sent his elf to rescue me."

Draco, without any prompting needed from Potter, said, "I want the same thing as Potter. I want you to help us break into Gringotts to pay back the debt."

The corner of Griphook's mouth twitched slightly, and Draco got the impression that he was looking for a loophole, a way out. When he didn't find one, he said, "All Gringotts goblins take an oath never to steal from the bank. You are asking me to break my oath."

"Not exactly," interjected Granger. "We aren't asking  _you_ to steal anything. We are asking you to help us break in so that we can."

"Yes, because that's so much better," Griphook said, his face a grimace. "Goblins view it as the upmost treachery to consort with wizards. Helping a wizard break into Gringotts to steal the treasures within is unthinkable, abhorrent."

"Well, it's what I want to repay the debt you owe me," Draco said with a shrug. "So I'm not sure what choice you have in the matter." The others looked at him with annoyed faces, as though they wished he would be a little more coaxing with Griphook, but unlike Potter and Granger, Draco had grown up in the wizarding world and happened to know a lot about goblins and Gringotts given that the entire Malfoy fortune was housed there. Their vaults were some of the oldest, most high-security vaults, and they were very close to the Lestrange vaults to boot.

Sure enough, though the golden trio clearly thought Draco was being too crass with Griphook, he sighed and said, "Very well then."

Together, they began formulating a plan that would take several days to perfect, and they decided to include Weaslette, Lovegood, and Thomas as well. They had told them about the horcruxes so they could help, Potter had reasoned when Draco had said he thought it was foolish to get more people involved. "Plus, it can't hurt to have more wands on our side."

They had originally thought of using Polyjuice potion, but anyone who would have access to the Lestrange vaults was dead, and he was sure Gringotts would be on high alert for impostors. Draco, of course, had access to the Malfoy vault now that his parents were dead, but he had such a high price on his head that he couldn't exactly walk into Gringotts and demand to be taken to his vault either. Their only choice was to go in fully invisible and do the best they could to make it to the vaults. They came up with plan after plan to go with different scenarios, and after about a week, they felt they had exhausted their imaginations.

"I guess it's time to give it a go," Potter finally said. "We won't know who will be at Gringotts or what security will be like until we're there. Griphook and I will be under my cloak. The rest of you will be disallusioned."

Granger, who had been teaching them all how to do the disallusionment charm said, "Everyone go ahead and try the charm again," for the third time that morning. Weaslette rolled her eyes, but she, and everyone else, pulled out their wands and performed the charm. In seconds, Granger and Potter were the only ones left visible.

"You're all getting really good at that," Potter said encouragingly. After a few moments, everyone reappeared, having learned to lift the charm as well.

Lovegood, who was nearest Potter, said, "Thanks, Harry. We have plenty of motivation to get it right considering none of us want to end up as You-Know-Who's snake's dinner."

Draco, and most of the rest of the group, clearly felt uncomfortable with Lovegood's choice of imagery, but Potter grinned goofily at her and said, "We won't let that happen." Draco quirked a brow at him, but it went unnoticed as Potter was still grinning at the blonde witch. No one else seemed to notice this odd behavior, as they were all practicing disallusioning again. Draco shook his head. For a bunch of supposedly smart people, they really were pretty thick at times, and it startled him to realize the fate of the wizarding world probably rested precariously in their hands.

* * *

The next day, they all woke up early as planned, before the sun was even up, so as to avoid any questions from Mrs. Weasley. She knew they were planning something, but they had managed to evade all of her questions. Potter, Weasley, Thomas, and Draco all headed downstairs and met the girls and Griphook in the kitchen. Wordlessly, they moved as one out into the back garden. It was cold and dark.

"Right," Potter said in a low tone. "Remember, avoiding detection at all costs is the most important thing. If You-Know-Who hears we've broken into Gringotts, he will know we're hunting horcruxes, and we don't want him to know that if at all possible."

"We know, Harry," Weaslette said. Lovegood nudged her with her elbow, and Weaslette rolled her eyes.

"We can't be too careful," Potter said, apparently unperturbed by Weaslette's frustration. "I can't say these things too many times. This is a risky mission to say the least."

"We've done all we can to prepare," Granger said, reaching out to squeeze Potter's arm. "All we can do now is wing it, to an extent."

Potter looked at her for a moment and then nodded. "Griphook, it's time to climb up," he said, looking down at the goblin, who did not look at all happy to find himself in this situation. Draco felt uneasy thinking about the fact that so much of their plan counted on them being able to trust Griphook. He knew goblins were masters at finding loopholes, and he just hoped Griphook would stay true to his word and help them. With a grimace, the goblin climbed up onto Potter's shoulders, wrapping his long-nailed fingers around Potter. Draco did not envy Potter having to carry the little creature around.

"Now, disallusionment charms, everyone, and fall into formation. I won't be able to see you, so just stay in the formation we discussed," Potter said.

Everyone obediently took their places. Potter was at the head of a triangle formation, with Weasley and Granger on his flank at either side. Draco was behind Granger, and Weaslette was behind Weasley. Thomas was behind Weaslette, and Lovegood was behind Draco. Everyone took out their wands, Draco's hand warming up as the Elder Wand found his hand once again, and tapped themselves on the head, fading into invisibility. Potter glanced around, clearly didn't see anyone, and nodded, pulling out his invisibility cloak and covering up himself and Griphook.

"On the count of three," Potter said to the invisible group. "One, two, three."

Everyone turned as one on the spot and appeared immediately in the alleyway behind the Weasley twins' joke shop, just as they had planned. They figured this way, they weren't right in the thick of Diagon Alley, where they were sure the sound of seven people apparating with no one visibly appearing surely wouldn't go unnoticed.

"Everyone here?" Potter whispered.

"Yes," came all of their voices at once. 

"Er, okay, hang on, I can't actually tell if everyone is here," Potter said worriedly. "Okay, everyone take turns and say your names."

Feeling very awkward, Draco waited for someone else to go first. Predictably, Granger said, "Hermione."

"Ron."

"Luna!"

"Ginny."

"Dean."

"Draco," he finally said. 

"I'm assuming Griphook made it?" Granger said.

"Present," Griphook whispered into his sneering tone. 

"Right, let's go," Potter said, and they set out. Everyone must have stayed in formation as planned because no one trod on anyone else's toes or crashed into each other's backs as they turned onto Diagon Alley proper and headed toward the snowy white building at the end of the alley. Gringotts loomed ahead of them, and Draco's stomach flipped as he realized the gravity of what they were about to do. They were about to break into Gringotts of all places. Gringotts! 

Before he knew it, they were at the doors, and as they had predicted, there were two security guards. If everything went to plan, Potter should be creating his diversion soon. 

Sure enough, after a few seconds, Draco saw something scuttling in front of Gringotts, something Potter had called "decoy detonators." Apparently the Weasley twins had created them, and Draco had to admit he was impressed as the little device exploded in a cacophony of smoke and sound in the opposite direction of the invisible group waiting to sneak into the bank. The guards immediately took their wands out, turning and pointing toward the detonators, and just as planned, everyone rushed forward. Draco ran slightly into Granger's back, but not hard enough to knock her over, as they all rushed through the doors before the guards ever turned back around.

They were inside the marble entrance hall, and Draco could see the main hall that made up the part of the bank where the tellers worked. They walked silently past the warning to thieves and into the main hall. Thankfully, there weren't many patrons in the bank. Draco realized most people weren't out and about much these days; they were hiding from the Dark Lord and Death Eaters. His stomach squirmed once again as he realized only a couple of weeks ago he would have been someone everyone else was hiding from. He shook his head, knowing he needed to focus on the task at hand. 

He assumed Potter had done as planned and walked ahead to the door that led to the vaults with Griphook and that Weasley and Granger weren't far behind him. As they'd discussed, it was now Draco and Weaslette who were responsible for creating the next diversion and then follow Potter, Granger, and Weasley as quickly as possible. Lovegood and Thomas were going to stay behind in the main hall to make sure no one followed them into the vaults, using the Imperius curse if necessary. No one really liked the idea of using unforgivable curses, even Draco who had been forced to use them as a Death Eater, but they realized the Imperius Curse was probably going to be inevitable on this mission. There were too many variables and too many things that could go wrong.

At the same time, he and Weaslette wordlessly cast a reducto at the massive chandelier on the ceiling. They knew the chandelier would be magically protected, and the force of one spell wouldn't be enough, so they'd taken a chance in assuming two would do the job, and it did. The chandelier came crashing down in the middle of the hall, and the din was deafening as glass went everywhere. It was pure chaos, and Draco and Weaslette took the opportunity to run the short distance to the door where Potter, Weasley, Granger, and Griphook were all waiting, still invisible. Draco ran into who he assumed was Weasley based on the loud grunt that came from whoever it was, but the nearby goblins were all shouting, trying to figure out what had happened with the chandelier, so no one noticed the noise of Weasley's grunt. Griphook slipped his hand out from underneath the invisibility cloak, eerily suspended in midair with no visible body connected to it, and placed his palm to the door, which melted. They all ran through it, and when Draco looked back, the door had reappeared, as solid as ever.

They were in a room he'd been in plenty of times, the room where the carts came to take everyone down to the vaults. 

"We can go ahead and make ourselves visible again," Potter said, pulling the cloak off of himself and Griphook.

Everyone else reappeared within a few seconds, and a cart rolled up as if on cue. 

"Hermione," Potter said, gesturing for Granger to proceed as planned. She furrowed her brows, clearly worried this bit wouldn't work, and approached the cart, waving her wand wordlessly in a complicated motion. The cart began to soundlessly expand before their eyes, until it was soon large enough for all five of them plus Griphook to get inside, which they did hurriedly, all of them looking back at the door worriedly every few seconds as though someone was going to burst through and catch them. Thankfully, no one did, and before they could worry about it too long, the cart was speeding off. Griphook was at its helm, directing it.

"I haven't done this in a long time," Griphook said. "I've been on the run for over a year."

"You seem to be doing fine!" Granger yelled as she held on to the side of the cart for balance. They hit a slight bump, and Draco saw her leave her seat slightly. Instinctively, he reached out and grabbed her hand, as though to pull her back inside the cart, but she was already safely back in her seat by the time he got her. She glanced quickly down at their hands, and his face flushed with heat. He quickly let go of her hand and glanced around, but no one seemed to be watching him or Granger. They were all staring determinedly ahead, as they should have been. He, too, decided to stare straight ahead, willing himself not to look at Granger, who he felt might be staring inquisitively at him.

They were getting deeper and deeper into the depths of Gringotts, and as they rounded a curve, they saw a waterfall up ahead.

"The Thief's Downfall!" Griphook shouted. "Prepare yourselves!" Griphook had warned them about this waterfall, which would be activated if Gringotts thought there were intruders, so all-in-all, it wasn't a great sign that they were seeing it. It meant that the goblins above were either aware or suspicious that there were thieves. Draco hoped they hadn't discovered Lovegood and Thomas, who were upstairs keeping guard. Potter had told them if they thought they were about to be found out to go and seek refuge in the Weasley twins' store, which was boarded up since the twins were underground with the Order. He hoped against hope that they had heeded Potters' words.

Though they'd known the waterfall was a possibility, there isn't much that can prepare you for the sensation of being tipped out of a cart that was already flying at precarious speeds and dropped fifty feet. They'd all practiced the  _arresto momentum_ spell that would stop them from being smashed to bits at the bottom of the ravine they were in, but Draco still closed his eyes, expecting death at any second.

It didn't come. His spell had worked, and he dropped gently to the ground, as did everyone else. He stood up and looked around, unsure as to where they were.

"The good thing, if there is one, about going down the Thief's Downfall, is that it's the fastest way to the bottom, where all the high-security vaults are. They just count on everyone dying!" Griphook said gleefully, and Draco, along with everyone else, grimaced at how delighted he sounded.

"Finding a way out is going to be fun," Weasley said, and Draco realized he was right. They knew about the waterfall but had somehow never asked Griphook how they'd get back to the cart. Draco, and apparently the rest of the group, decided to push that problem aside. They'd find a way out. The priority at the moment had to be getting to the Lestrange vault.

Griphook led the way, and after a ten-minute walk, they rounded a corner and saw several large vault doors. Draco realized now where they were, now that he had a point of reference to orient himself. He saw the door to his own vault and could almost hear his father's voice explaining to him the importance of money when he was only a child. He swallowed hard against that memory and turned his attention instead to a vault two doors down from his own, the one he knew was the Lestranges' vault. Sure enough, Griphook led them straight to this door. Just as they got close to the vault, they heard a terrible roar that sounded not too far away, and Draco was reminded horribly of the first task in the Triwizarding Tournament; he knew there were dragons in Gringotts, but he had never come face-to-face with one when he and his father had come here.

"Right, Malfoy, come here," Potter said, ignoring the frightening sound and gesturing for Draco to come up to the door with Griphook. "Let's see if our theory was correct." Potter was referring to the fact that he believed Draco would be the heir to the Lestrange vault and that any extra protective charms they might have activated inside wouldn't work against him. Draco thought it was wishful thinking, but Potter adamantly asked who else would inherit Bellatrix's things. It was a fair point, Draco guessed, since Bellatrix didn't have any children and since her only other living relatives were "blood traitors." She had no idea Draco was going to betray her, so maybe Potter was right.

Griphook ran his index finger smoothly down the vault door, and it melted away. They all stepped inside.

"No one touch anything," Potter warned. Then he said, "All right, Malfoy, give it a whirl. Try picking something up, but only something small and close to the door."

Draco took a deep breath and stepped forward to a pile of galleons near him. After a moment's hesitation, he picked it up. 

Nothing happened.

The group breathed a collective sigh of relief. Something had gone their way, at least. "Right," Granger said in the same bossy tone Draco had heard year after year in school. "We just need to have a look around to see where this cup is. But just make sure not to touch anything!"

"We know, Hermione," Weasley said in an exasperated tone, but even as he said it, he accidentally bumped into a rather large suit of armor, which immediately duplicated itself and was apparently hot, as Weasley yelped as the metal came in contact with him.

"Oh, you know, do you?" Granger said with a roll of her eyes. "Harry, describe the cup you saw in the memory again, please."

"It's small and golden with two handles. It'll have Hufflepuff's crest in the middle of it, but you wouldn't be able to see that except up close."

Draco raked his eyes over everything in the vault. There was an awful lot of gold stuff; it made finding a small cup very difficult. His eyes kept getting stuck on galleons or tiaras or necklaces. He had originally thought the Dark Lord was a bit foolish to put something so precious in a bank vault, but now Draco saw the merit. The little object was camouflaged. 

"There!" Weaslette yelled suddenly, causing Granger to bump into the same pile of suits of armor that Weasley had created a few minutes before. Several more popped into existence, burning Granger in the process, and the pile grew larger and much more difficult to avoid. 

"Stop moving!" Potter commanded, and everyone froze, even Draco. How the hell did Potter do that? "Ginny, point it out to me," Potter said patiently after a few moments.

"There!" she said again, pointing up to a high ledge. Draco squinted his eyes. Sure enough, there, amongst galleons and emeralds, was a small, golden cup. 

"How are we going to reach it?" Granger said, still wincing slightly at the burn on her arm from the suits of armor. Draco noticed the metal had burned a hole in the sleeve of her robes and the skin underneath was red. He winced. 

"Malfoy has to be the one to retrieve it," Potter reminded her. "Er, maybe we can levitate him up there? It's not like we will be able to summon it in here." Griphook had told them there were anti-summoning wards on all Gringotts vaults, even the most low-security ones.

While Draco didn't love the idea of being levitated up in front of everyone to retrieve the cup, he had to admit he didn't see any other way. "Go on then," he sighed. 

Granger, in a tone reminiscent of their first year at Hogwarts, said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" while practicing the familiar swish-and-flick movement of her wrist, and Draco was lifted gently up, bobbing along in the air as Granger led him to the ledge. He was thankful that she was moving slowly and not slinging him across the vault, and when he got close enough, he reached out and grabbed the cup's handle. The cup felt unusually cold, as though it had been sitting on ice all the long years it had been here in the vault. 

"Got it?" Granger asked, and when Draco nodded, she lowered him back down to the group. They all marveled at the little object in Draco's hands, and Draco thought he felt a faint beating, like that of a tiny heart, against his hands. It almost felt like he was holding a hummingbird in his grasp...a very cold hummingbird, that is.

They didn't have long to marvel on what they'd achieved, as they suddenly heard a loud clanking of metal on the other side of the vault. They all looked frantically at each other and then Griphook. Draco noticed Griphook was standing oddly close to the door and then watched in horror as Griphook ran his finger along the door, clearly meaning only to let himself out. 

"Get out!" Draco shouted suddenly. "He's trying to lock us in!" 

Just in the nick of time, the entire group went through the door with Griphook, and they all began shouting furiously at him.

"I said I'd get you in," Griphook said nastily. "I never said anything about getting you out." He paused, and then he began shouting, "Thieves! Thieves! Over near the high-security vaults! Thieves!" With that, the little goblin went running off in the direction of the sound of the metal clanking about, and everyone turned to face each other in panic.

"How the hell are we going to get out of here, Harry?" Weasley said, his eyes wide.

"I...I don't know. I'd assumed Griphook would tell us how," Potter said, raking his eyes around the vast space they were in as if looking for a magic ladder. 

"Could we summon brooms from the Quidditch shop?" Weaslette asked, her voice rather higher than normal.

"They won't make it through solid walls," Granger said, and Draco realized she was the only one who wasn't looking wildly around. She had her face in one of her hands and was rubbing her temples. She was thinking, he realized. Keeping a cool head. Trying to find a solution. He thought vaguely that he could have stood there all day, just watching her mind work. Then he shook his head. He didn't have time to be admiring Granger's mind! They were all likely to die soon if they didn't figure something out.

Suddenly the terrible roar they'd heard earlier repeated itself, and Granger and Draco looked at each other as the same idea dawned on them both. "The dragon," they breathed in unison.

"Come again?" Weasley said. 

"Come on!" Granger yelled. "Time to ride a dragon!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to leave kudos and comments! I love them!
> 
> B


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all. I am majorly sorry for the delay in posting! Last week was crazy, and honestly I couldn't find the time or energy to write this chapter properly, and I wanted to make sure I did it right. I hope you are all still hanging in there with me!
> 
> B

They ran toward the terrible noise of the dragon's roar, Potter for once not in the lead as Draco and Granger had thought of the idea and immediately taken off, everyone else running behind them. Whey they rounded a corner, they saw Gringotts guards and goblins headed their way. There were four guards, wands out, and several goblins hobbling along behind them. Draco was annoyed to find Griphook in their midst as they all yelled, "Thieves! Thieves!"

As one, Draco, Granger, Potter, Weasley, and Weaslette pulled out their wands and began firing hexes at the group headed toward them. They mostly fired stunners, not wanting to critically injure the guards who were, after all, only doing their jobs. Two of the four guards went down, along with a couple of the goblins, but the two other guards were still sending red jets at them, one of which hit Weasley directly in the chest.

"Ron!" Granger yelled, as Weasley fell solidly to the ground.

"Focus!" Potter yelled, and Granger turned back to the battle at hand with renewed energy, taking out both of the remaining guards on her own. Draco could have whistled. Meanwhile, Potter was behind him pointing his wand at Weasley and saying, "Rennervate." Weasley opened his eyes and rubbed the back of his head. Draco could imagine there would be nasty knot forming there from his head hitting the stone floor.

The goblins were still running at them, but Potter cast an impedimenta, and they quickly ran around the goblins and around another corner where at last they saw the giant beast. It was clearly blind and very old, and Draco, in a moment of very Grangeresque emotion, felt terrible for the poor creature for being stuck down here for god knows how long. 

"Everyone get on!" Granger yelled, and no one even questioned her. They all clambered clumsily onto the back of the beast, who roared in indignation. Potter climbed up to the neck, wrapping his arms around, and everyone began flanking him. Draco marveled at how they'd gone back into their original formation, which put him directly behind Granger. He looked behind him, halfway expecting to see Lovegood, and then realized she and Thomas were missing.

"What about the others?" he asked suddenly, just as Granger raised her wand to remove the chains holding the dragon in place. She lowered her wand and frowned.

"They are going to have to jump on fast," Potter said. "I have a feeling this dragon isn't going to slow down once it starts."

"If we can't get them, they'll go to Fred and George's and apparate out," Weasley said. "That was the plan all along if we didn't come back for them."

Potter nodded. "Let's go."

Granger pointed her wand at the chains once again and said, "Relashio!" Almost immediately, the dragon roared and reared blindly up on its hind legs, both furious and elated. Within moments, its massive wings were beating about, and they had started to take flight. Without needing to be told, Draco and the rest of the group began firing reductos at the stone walls, creating a larger passage for the massive beast. Even so, it still crashed into the walls and then shrieked with pain. Draco almost felt bad for the dragon; after all, it was blind and trying to navigate its way through what was essentially a cave system.

When they finally burst through into the main hall of the bank, they all started yelling Thomas and Lovegoods' names, knowing if they were in the room they'd still be invisible. They had no way of knowing if either of them had made it onto the dragon as the beast burst through the roof of Gringotts and out over Diagon Alley. Everyone on the dragon's back was covered in rubble but had the foresight to cover their heads, so no one appeared to be gravely injured. Draco chanced a glance backwards and saw that Thomas had come into view, but Lovegood was nowhere to be seen. He looked up at Potter, who seemed to have just realized the same thing. Potter's face creased with worry, but he turned his glance forward once more, clearly trying to focus on the task at hand. 

Lovegood wasn't an idiot, Draco told himself. She was clever. She'd make her way back to the Weasley twins' shop and apparate back to the Burrow. They'd meet her there whenever they figured out how to get off the back of this bloody dragon. He was mildly shocked to find he even cared, but as he watched Potter's back as they flew over London, he couldn't help but feel sorry for him as Draco knew Potter must be worrying about Lovegood.

Everyone was holding tight to the dragon and keeping their head down against the wind, and before too long, they'd left London altogether and were flying over wild countryside. Though it was a warm day, they were high enough up that it was quite chilly. He could hear Potter and Granger yelling ahead of him, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Suddenly, Granger pointed her wand at Potter, and Draco just made out her spell. "Sonorus!"

"All right, listen," he said. Potter's voice was magnified loud enough for them to hear. Draco was impressed because had Granger done that spell too powerfully, his voice would be loud enough for all the Muggles in the villages below to hear, but she had used enough restraint in her spellwork that Potter's voice only traveled far enough for everyone astride the dragon to hear. "Does everyone see that lake over there?" He pointed to a body of water in the distance. It looked small now, but Draco knew this dragon was traveling fast enough that they'd be there in no time. "When I say 'jump,' we are all going to jump down in the lake. If we stay on this dragon too long, it's likely to fly us to New York City."

Everyone nodded. After all, their voices weren't magically magnified. 

After a couple of minutes, they were over the lake, and Draco was surprised to find the dragon circling it. He'd thought they were going to have to fall from a great height, but apparently breaking out of a bank after being in there for god knows how long had made this dragon thirsty. Once they'd circled the lake what felt like a million times, Potter finally yelled, "Jump!" and they all slid off of the dragon and into the frigid water below.

Draco kicked as hard as he could toward the surface. He'd never loved swimming, and his feet were tangled in reedy plants below the surface of the water, but eventually he found air and, desperate to get out of the water, began swimming hard in the direction of the shore. Everyone else reached the banks around the same time, except Potter, who was a bit behind. Draco noticed as soon as Potter hit the banks that something was wrong. His hand was over his forehead, and he was yelling out in pain.

"Harry!" Granger yelled, running over to Potter. She dropped down to her knees next to him, and Weasley was there in a flash. Thomas and Weaslette soon followed, though they stayed standing. Draco stood behind them a few paces, not wanting to intrude.

"He...he knows!" Potter choked out, clearly in agony. "He knows we're hunting horcruxes."

Granger's hand flew to her mouth, and Weasley looked like he was going to be sick. Draco felt faintly nauseated as well, but the more he thought about it, the less surprised he was. After all, they'd gotten caught breaking into Gringotts and then flown a bloody dragon out of the building.

After a few more moments of writhing around, Potter seemed to come to.

"He knows we're hunting horcruxes, and he's keeping his snake close to him while he goes to check on the rest," Potter said breathlessly. "He doesn't think we know about any of the other ones."

"We have to get back to the Burrow," Granger said frantically. "We have to tell the Order what's going on."

"We can't tell them about the horcruxes," Potter said, his hand still over his scar. 

"Why not?" Weasley interjected. "You already told all of us, and the only one left is the snake. What difference does it make to tell them now that You-Know-Who knows?" He paused. "I mean, the whole reason we weren't telling people was because we didn't want someone to get questioned and for You-Know-Who to find out, right?"

Potter looked like he was in too much pain to think, but eventually he said, "I...I guess you're right." After a pause, he added, "We don't tell them what we know about me, though." Weaslette started to ask what Potter was talking about, but he put up a hand to silence her. "Not now," he said. "There isn't time. We need to get back anyway and make sure Luna is okay."

"Harry, are you sure you're okay to apparate?" Granger said worriedly. "If you can't focus properly, you'll get splinched. 

"Er, I'll side-along with you to be safe," he said, standing up and reaching out to take Granger's hand. She stood up with him, and Weasley followed suit.

"Is everyone else okay?" she asked, looking around the circle worriedly. When no one objected, she said, "All right, then. Back to the Burrow."

They all spun on the spot and found themselves just outside the protective boundaries of the Burrow. As one, they began walking inside, still dripping with the water from the lake now miles away. No one said anything to each other, but Draco noticed Potter's hand was still rubbing his scar, even now that they'd apparated. Draco was walking half a stride behind Granger, and he noticed the way her hair was already re-curling itself, even with water droplets still coming off the ends.

When they went inside, it was a cacophony of noise. Mrs. Weasley was upon them immediately, and half the Order seemed to be gathered in the sitting room.

"Where in the world have you all been?" Mrs. Weasley yelled, fussing over their wet state. "We have been hearing the most bizarre things, a break-in at Gringotts, some rubbish to do with a dragon."

"Not rubbish, unfortunately," Potter said, wincing. Weasley put his hands over his head as if preparing to be hit.

"You mean you actually did break into Gringotts?" Lupin asked, appearing suddenly behind Mrs. Weasley. "What the devil were you doing breaking into Gringotts?"

Potter looked around at everyone, and Granger nodded encouragingly at him. He sighed. "We need to sit down."

"Not in those wet clothes," Mrs. Weasley said, and Draco marveled at how she could worry about something so trivial at a time like this. She took out her wand, waved it at Potter, and he was immediately dry. He looked down, smiled, and thanked her, and she proceeded to do the same for everyone else. When Draco thanked her, she looked up at him with a kind smile and patted his cheek lightly. Draco wasn't used to such affection. Even when his mother was alive, and even though Draco had considered them to have a very good relationship for most of his life, she was not overly affectionate. Mrs. Weasley's gesture vaguely embarrassed Draco, but it also warmed him more than her drying spell had.

Once everyone was dry, they moved into the sitting room and saw many more members of the Order, including Kingsley Shacklebolt, Tonks, the Weasley twins, the eldest Weasley brother who Draco thought was named Bill, his wife, Fleur Delacour, Arthur Weasley, and others Draco knew only by face and not by name. Everyone sat as best they could on the various sofas and chairs in the small sitting room. Weaslette sat on the arm of a sofa while Weasley chose to stand behind the chair Granger had plopped down in. Potter, however, stood in the middle of the room, looking around at everyone as if trying to figure out how to say what he needed to say. Draco, who was standing in the doorway, met Potter's eyes briefly and gave him a short nod of encouragement, just as Granger had done a few minutes earlier.

"It's time for me to tell you about the mission Dumbledore left me," Potter said, and the room seemed to draw breath as one.

"Harry, you said Dumbledore told you not to tell anyone," Lupin said, his voice a warning.

"I know," Potter said with a small nod, "but it's time now." He paused. "Raise your hand if you know what a horcrux is." Draco scanned the room and saw only furrowed brows. No one had heard of them, and he wasn't surprised. They were, after all, horribly dark objects that were not usually taught. Potter sighed and launched into an explanation as to what horcruxes were and how Dumbledore had come to believe the Dark Lord had created not just one but six; Draco noticed that Potter had left out that he was the unintentional seventh horcrux. Draco glanced quickly at Granger and was startled to see that she was looking at him too, almost as if she had feared he might give away Potter's secret. It was Draco's instinct to look away from Granger, but something kept their eyes locked as Potter kept on with the story of the horcruxes that had already been destroyed as well as their trip to Gringotts that day. Still, Draco's eyes bore into Granger's, until he briefly glanced upward and saw Weasley looking at him as though he'd like to attack him. Draco's eyes shifted back to Potter.

"So we have Hufflepuff's cup," Potter said, pulling it out of his pocket. "And Hermione's got basilisk fangs in her bag, so we can destroy this one too. But I have no idea how we're going to get the snake, and You-Know-Who knows now that we are hunting horcruxes. We have a little time while he goes to search for the rest of them, but when he finds out they've already been destroyed, there will be hell to pay."

The whole room was silent, heavy with the weight of this news, and Draco thought it was good Potter hadn't told them about him being the seventh horcrux because he didn't think the room could hold anymore tension.

"There is going to be a battle," Lupin said with a glance over at Tonks. "We must prepare."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to leave kudos and comments if you are enjoying the fic!
> 
> B


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